


Redemption of A Lost Soul

by TwiAddictAnne



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-04 22:59:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3095741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwiAddictAnne/pseuds/TwiAddictAnne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was irredemable. I was lost, and then ... she found me. A story of discovering yourself ... a story of resemption. OOC vampires, Canon couples. Edward x Bella. Rated for language and adult situations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Freedom Is Hard To Come By

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga? Yeah, it’s not mine. However, this fic is all mine. :D
> 
> A/N: To my new readers, welcome, and to my regular readers, welcome back to this exciting new journey we’re about to embark upon. :)
> 
> Before we start though, I’d like to clarify something. The vampires in this fic are very non-canon from the original books. It will be very AU from the start. So, approach with caution. You’ve been warned. ;)
> 
> Happy reading. :D

** Prologue: Freedom Is Hard To Come By **

**20 June, 1919**

 

 

 

Standing by the window, I stared out into the dark night.

 

To a creature of the night like me, the darkness didn’t mean much—except maybe fewer day-walkers around.

 

To a vampire, the darkness seemed like the perfect camouflage for hunting its most vulnerable prey—humans.

 

But to me, the darkness meant nothing. It simply signified the fact that I could tick off one more day from my miserable existence until the end of forever.

_Perfect_ , I thought sarcastically.

 

The shuffling of feet behind me alerted me to the presence of another creature nearby, and I felt my back stiffen.

 

“Edward, son,” my creator, Carlisle, called to me from the door to my bedroom.

 

“What?” I spat at him, feeling all the resentment from before rushing back to me.

 

“Did you really mean what you told me a few hours ago?”

 

His voice sounded small and kind of pitiful. The questions running through his mind sounded even more so. **_Do you really feel like I’m acting more like your creator than your father? Do you truly resent me that much?_**

 

I snorted. “How can I not resent you, Carlisle?” I asked him dryly. “You turned me into this damned creature just because you felt lonely and wanted a pet. And then you forced me to hunt animals instead of what we’re meant to hunt—humans.”

 

“No, Edward …” he held a hand up as if asking me to stop talking. “Your mother did ask me to save you with her dying breath. Believe me.”

 

“I’m sure she thought I would be alive still in her delirious state, but you should have known better than to condemn me to the same fate as yours.”

 

“Your soul isn’t condemned yet, son,” he started, but stopped as I glared at him.

 

“Right. It isn’t condemned yet … and do you know why that is? That’s because I don’t have a soul to be condemned,” I told him bitterly. “I lost my soul when you turned me into your pet monster.”

 

He looked troubled as he sighed. “You are not a monster, Edward, and you’re not a pet to me. You’re like my son.”

 

“So you say.”

 

My petulant remark made him let out a frustrated groan. “What can I do to prove that I don’t feel like I own you? What will it take for you to believe that all I’m trying to do is guide you?”

 

“Freedom.” The words came out of my mouth even before he could finish his question.

 

“Freedom?” he sounded very confused by my demand.

 

Straightening myself to my full height, I faced the man who had turned me into a soulless monster … who had turned me into a vampire.

 

“Yes, freedom,” I repeated slowly, almost cautiously. “You say that you don’t own me? Then prove it. Let me be on my own for some time.”

 

He looked horrified at the thought. “Edward, are you out of your mind? You’re still almost a newborn. What if you go and lose your self-control?”

 

“That’s the thing, Carlisle. I don’t think I have enough grasp on the control yet.”

 

“Then why …?” He paused halfway through asking the question, and it seemed to finally have dawned on his mind. ** _He means to go and hunt humans!_**

 

“That will be murder!”

 

“Probably,” I replied with a shrug. “Since I don’t have a soul anymore, why shouldn’t I at least have some fun? Besides, I turned 18 today. I’m an adult. You can’t force me to follow you anymore.”

 

He stood there motionless, clearly trying to figure out ways to stop me.

 

“Look, Carlisle, I’m not saying I’m leaving forever. I just … I just want to see how it feels to drink human blood.” When he still kept quiet, I added, “I might come back if you figure out an alternative to animal blood.”

 

He thought for several long moments. When I was beginning to wonder whether he had turned into stone in shock or not, he nodded.

_What?_

 

My shock must have been plainly apparent on my face because he spoke in a quiet but determined voice. “You can go and _explore_ your abilities for a little while. But promise me to exercise discretion at the very least.”

 

“I will. Goodbye, Carlisle,” I said to him before turning back to face the huge window.

 

I had already jumped out of the window and moving through the front lawn of the house Carlisle occupied as a physician in the local hospital when the whispered thoughts reached me. **_May God protect your soul._**

 

**Present Day**

 

 

 

“You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?” Jasper’s voice pulled me out of my reverie, and I turned away from the window.

 

“I’m not thinking about anything,” I said mildly.

 

My adoptive brother looked at me with concern, most probably trying to read my emotions. “Edward …”

 

“I’m okay, Jazz, honestly,” I told him. “I was just thinking about the sky … it changes with every moment that passes, and yet, it looks exactly the same as it did almost a century ago.”

 

He walked up to me and gave me a tentative smile. “You still feel guilty, don’t you, brother? For leaving Carlisle?”

 

I didn’t respond to his assumption, and after a moment, he seemed to gather my silence as a symbol of acquiescence. “Edward, it was a long time ago, and I can tell you that Carlisle feels no resentment toward you anymore. He has truly forgiven you. Let it go.”

 

As if to prove his point, he dropped the thing he was holding precariously on my hand with a thwap. Without even looking down, I knew it was a blood bag.

 

When about a decade after my desertion, Carlisle tracked me down, he presented me with an alternative to killing humans—blood bags.

 

He struck a deal with me that he would get me blood bags from the hospital he worked in and in return, I would have to go back home with him.

 

As much as I resented the promise of cold refrigerated blood, it was still better than animal blood and the promise of not living like a nomad anymore sounded quite enticing as well. So, I had agreed to come back, albeit a little reluctantly.

 

I gripped the cold squishy bag in my hand and raised an eyebrow at my brother in question. “Want a pint?”

 

He shook his head at me, giving me a side smile. “No, not this week. I had a blood bag last week, remember? I have to dilute it with animal blood this week.”

 

“You put too much effort on that control, brother. Try living a little once in a while.”

 

As if on cue, the sounds of fast approaching footsteps came down the hall.

 

“There you are,” Alice, my favorite sister, said as she wrapped an arm around her husband.

 

Jasper took her hand and kissed it before looking at me. “I am living, brother. And I hope you get to live one day as well.”

 

Silently, he added, “ ** _don’t feel guilty for leaving, Edward. You’re back and that’s all Carlisle wanted._** ”

 

Alice gave me a smile as she led her husband out of my room, finally granting me some time to reflect on my thoughts.

 

I turned back to look out of the window.

 

The night sky was dotted with so many stars. They were like my family members. Each different than the others, but all very much alike as well.

 

I looked down at the blood bag still in my hand and grinned before leaping out of the window and walking into the forest that lined the house.

 

I waited there to check whether I was being followed or not and then, turned toward the Canadian border. If I wanted to remain undetected, I needed to hunt far away from home.

 

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

Wiping my mouth with the scrap of fabric I had torn off from my prey’s shirt, I started walking back toward the house filled with vampires … my family.

 

As I looked about myself, judging to see if I looked like I just drained every last drop of blood from an unsuspecting human instead of my weekly blood bag.

 

Satisfied, I made my way back to the house.

 

Looked like Jasper was right … somewhat. I did feel guilty—not for leaving Carlisle to explore my abilities as a vampire though, no, I felt guilty for having to hide my _excursions_ from my family.

 

But I am living my life as a vampire and I’ll be damned if I feel sorry for that.


	2. Chapter-1: Intangible, Not Impossible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews for the prologue have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> Ready for the next chapter? Read on!

** Chapter-1: Intangible, Not Impossible **

****

****

****

** EPOV **

****

****

 

As I walked inside the house where my family lived, my mind was bombarded with six different thoughts from six different vampires.

 

First off, Esme, Carlisle’s wife and adoptive mother to the rest of us, smiled at the doorway where I stood. **_Now, all my children are home._** Her thoughts were always of a typical mama-bear’s—so to speak.

 

From her side, Carlisle nodded at me. **_Hope you enjoyed your dinner, son._**

_Oh, Dad, you have_ no _idea,_ I thought to myself as I remembered the scared-about-to-piss-my-pants look on my recent victim’s face just before I had sunken my teeth in his jugular vein.

 

On Esme’s other side sat Rosalie, a snarky bitch Carlisle had saved a while back. She was my least favorite sister, but even I had to agree that she was damn loyal to this family—at least more than I was.

 

Rose just grimaced at me, not even attempting to hide her thoughts. **_All hail doucheward! The prodigal son has returned._**

 

I just grinned at her in return. She was jealous of the fact that Carlisle always gave me a wide berth after my return. _Suck on that lemon, sister!_

 

Rose’s husband and my favorite brother, Emmett’s, thoughts were the most innocent ones. He just kept wondering why the hell I chose to drink from a blood bag when I could wrestle fully-grown grizzly bears and drain them instead.

 

Jasper just offered me a smile. ** _You seem to be in a better mood_** , he observed, and I smiled back at him in response. There was absolutely no need for him to know what set my mood back to ‘happy-Ed’ mode.

 

However, Alice’s glare saw right through all the bullshit. If looks could kill, I was sure I would’ve been a pile of ash at her feet, but thankfully, her hazel green eyes held no magical powers.

****

**_Why?_ **

 

I answered her silent question with a shrug, as if to say, “Why the hell not?”

 

If it was possible, her eyes grew even darker with her anger as she walked toward me. “Edward, we miss your playing. It’s been so long since you played Esme’s song,” she said in a casual voice. “Why don’t you play it for us? I’m sure Esme would love to hear it.”

 

I started to protest, not relishing the idea of playing the piano when I could just go back to my room and pop in one of my numerous music CDs before replaying the events of the night.

 

After a hunt, I liked to play it all over and over in my head so that the memory of the thrill still remained fresh in my mind until I hunted the next time.

 

However, before I could make an excuse, Esme turned her hopeful eyes on me and said, “That’s an excellent idea, Alice. I’d love to hear Edward play for me.”

 

Cursing Alice for putting ideas in her head, I smiled politely at Esme and then dragged my feet toward the black baby piano placed across the room.

 

“Have you composed anything new, Edward?” Carlisle asked me as I took my seat.

 

When I shook my head, Esme looked at me in earnest. “Honey, you can play the song you wrote for me. I always love hearing that one.”

 

“As you wish, mom,” I told her with a slight tilt of my head, making her smile brightly. I always wondered how she always stayed so contented with so less.

 

I didn’t know if she still mourned for the baby she lost as a human, but her happiness at our simple address of her as our mother truly seemed genuine.

 

Just as I was opening the lid of the keys, Alice took a seat on the floor in between Jasper’s outstretched legs, her eyes still determinedly focused on me. _Fucking hell!_

 

I knew that stance of hers. She was getting ready with her special inquisition technique reserved just for me.

 

I started playing the song and then allowed my fingers to do their well-rehearsed dance on the black and ivory keys as I searched her Alice’s thought.

 

Like a wall in front of my face, her thoughts hit me with a smack.

****

**_Who was it this time?_ **

 

I decided what answer I wanted to give her so that she would see it in her vision, not requiring me to utter a single word. It was the way we talked when we didn’t want to share something with the rest of the family.

_Just some poor fucker who turned up at the right place on the right time_ , I said in response.

 

I could hear the exasperated sigh in her voice when she chastised me; correction: _tried_ to chastise me. I wasn’t an easy bastard to be chastised.

****

**_Why, Edward? Carlisle listened to your demands. He slackened his hold on his principles and allowed you to drink blood from blood bags. Why do you need to hunt innocent humans?_ **

 

Her question almost made me snort at her wording. Allowed _me, Alice? Let me tell you, little sister, if I didn’t want to come back, I wouldn’t be here today._

****

**_That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Edward. You want to be a good guy. You know you do. And despite what you think, you do love him. So why do you have to break his rules like this?_ **

 

I shook my head as if I was shaking it in time with the music while in reality, I was shaking it at her. _No, Alice. This is not about my disrespecting Carlisle. I don’t despise him anymore for taking away my soul from me. Honestly, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I want to drink that piss-smelling shit you drink to sustain yourselves. If I’m gonna be a vampire, I’m gonna be a_ real _vampire._

****

**_Nice dig, big brother,_** she thought scathingly. ** _But even if you want to drink human blood, what’s wrong with the blood bag? You don’t enjoy killing people, surely?_**

 

I felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips as I thought of how to answer her properly. _I don’t know about killing people, Alice, but yeah, I do enjoy the way the hot blood rushes down my throat as opposed to the cold, stale-tasting blood from the blood bag._

 

When I chanced a look at her, I saw her glare at me from across the room. **_You know you disgust me at times like these?_**

 

The tone of her voice made me grin a little. _Then why don’t you spill the beans on me, sister?_

****

**_You know why!_ **

 

I could see her jaw clenching with anger as she moved her eyes away from me.

 

Despite knowing it was going to be a low blow, I smirked down at my hands, feeling her eyes move back on me for a second.

_Are you afraid Jazz is gonna hate you, Alice?_

 

I could see her debating with herself whether she could rush up to me and slap me for a moment before piercing me with a cold stare.

 

**_I don’t want to see the disappointment in his eyes for my moment of weakness, Edward. There’s a difference._ **

 

I just shrugged because to me, those two situations didn’t necessarily seem mutually exclusive. _Then you should keep your mouth shut. Besides, I hunt away from home, and it’s only once in a while. Don’t worry yourself about me, little sister._

 

For the next few moments, she kept quiet, allowing me to hope that the inquisition was finally over … until her whispered thoughts reached me.

****

**_I can’t wait till she gets here._ **

 

I snapped my head up from the piano as soon as I heard her. Looking sharply at her, I demanded, _what did you mean by that?_

 

She doggedly avoided my gaze and surreptitiously shook her head. _Alice!_

 

She flinched a little at my glower. She closed her eyes and gave up, agreeing to show me what she was talking about.

 

As I looked into her thoughts, I saw a brilliantly blue sky with soft clouds moving over the horizon. _So she had a vision?_ I thought to myself before concentrating on what I was seeing.

 

Slowly, the gaze (which I think belonged to Alice) started to lower, showing a perfectly circular clearing filled with wildflowers. It looked like a meadow.

 

The meadow looked natural, not like the fake ones we usually see in people’s backyards. The flowers covering the surface of the earth were purple, violet, blue and white. In spite of not being a poetic asshole, even I had to agree that the place looked beautiful.

 

As the mist started to clear from the scene, I could make out two figures sitting in the middle of the meadow. Their faces were very close—only a breath away from each other’s. With their legs entangled, they looked like a couple desperately in love.

 

The man was kissing the side of the woman’s neck who giggled and pulled at his hair in what I could guess is pleasure.

_Alice, are you trying to tell me you saw porn today?_ I asked my sister cheekily.

 

Her answer came in a huff as she continued to show me the vision. **_Just watch, will you?_**

 

After another tug, the woman in the vision tumbled onto the man, making him fall flat on his back while holding her in his arms. Sounds of happy and contented laughter drifted up from the couple. And in that moment, I felt jealous of that guy—for having a reason to laugh so freely.

 

The woman dragged her hair over his face and finally lifted her head, allowing me to take a good look at the guy lying under her.

 

My hands stilled on the keys as I hit a wrong note on the piano. And suddenly, Esme was standing beside me.

 

“Edward, are you all right?” she asked worriedly, looking closely down at me.

 

“Yeah, mom, I’m fine,” I replied, feigning a smile for her benefit.

 

Rose stood up from her seat and blew her hair out of her face as she grinned at me. “I’m sure he just fell asleep from hearing himself play, Esme.”

 

I pushed away her cynical comment and prepared to continue playing when Esme placed a hand on my shoulder.

 

“Why don’t you go up to your room, honey?” she said in her soothing motherly voice. “Thank you for playing my song.”

 

“I’m sorry, Esme …” I started to apologize, but she waved it away.

 

“Go and read the book your father got you today. After you’re finished, I get to read it,” she said with a wink.

 

“Thanks, mom.” Placing a kiss on her cheek, I stood up and with a nod at the room at large, I made my way up the stairs.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

I little while later I thought of what I had seen in Alice’s vision. The woman’s face had been obscured from my line of vision, but the man’s face had been crystal clear.

 

The man who had lain there, looking blissfully contented, had a face I had seen many times … a face I was looking at right now … in the mirror.

 

The man had been none other than me.

 

“Edward?”

 

Alice’s voice made me look away from the mirror. I found her standing in the doorway of my room, twisting her hands together.

 

“What was that?” I demanded of her.

 

She lifted her shoulder in a shrug and said, “What you saw was the vision I had today.”

 

“But that’s impossible, Alice!”

 

She shook her head at me. “No, Edward, it isn’t. I admit the vision wasn’t very clear, but I think it is clear that someone is going to come into your life.”

 

“No!” I looked at her sharply. “No, Alice. It’s not going to happen. I’m not … it’s not …” I stopped, not finding the right words to describe my feelings.

 

She stepped closer to me and smiled meekly. “Brother, as much as I hate the way you act sometimes, I know you deserve love just as much as all of us do.”

 

We stood there in silence for a moment, before she added, “I think she’s gonna be your mate, Edward.”

 

“But you said yourself that the vision wasn’t very clear, Alice. I say that’s still more impossible than the other way around.”

 

She rolled her eyes at me and smiled. “You know when you get your head out of your cynical ass, you’ll realize that intangible doesn’t always mean impossible.”

 

With that little riddle, she left me standing there, looking at the empty doorway with my mouth open like a fucking fish.

_What the fuck was that all about? Who the fuck was this girl? I didn’t know yet, but hell if I wasn’t going to find out soon._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So … how did that go?
> 
> Thoughts? Share them with me and leave a review. :*
> 
> As I said before, this fic is very AU. So despite being vampires they don’t have red (in Edward’s case) or golden eyes.
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Burning In The Skies by Linkin Park.
> 
> Just a reminder: The Perfect Light has been nominated for Top Ten Completed Fics of December, 2014. So, if ScienceWard made you smile with his cuteness, or Bella made you grin with her snarkiness, or JERKob made you want to kick the shit out of him, or Carlisle made you laugh out loud with his antics, go and vote for TPL. You can vote once every 24 hours until January 31st. Here’s the link for voting:
> 
>  
> 
> http: // twifanfictionrecs . com / 2015 / 01 / 01 / vote-for-your-top-ten-completed-fics-december-2014 / (Remove the spaces before you hit go!)
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	3. Chapter-2: Winds of Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews for the prologue have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> Ready for the next chapter? Read on!

Chapter-2: Winds of Change

 

EPOV

 

A few weeks after Alice’s “intangible” vision, I was standing on the front porch of our house with my two brothers, planning to make a baseball match out of the upcoming storm Alice had just predicted.

“Who’s gonna be the referee if we all play?” Jasper asked with a frown on his face.

“You will,” I replied, plucking the baseball cap off of his head and putting it on. I turned to look at Emmett and asked with a raised eyebrow, “I look better wearing it, don’t I?”

Jasper tried to reach for the cap exclaiming loudly, “Hey! That’s mine. Allie bought that for me.”

“Then she’ll get you another one,” I said, holding the cap away from him. “You should thank me for giving Alice a chance to go to shopping.”

He grumbled in response, obvious cursing the day humans decided to invent shopping malls.

Emmett snatched the cap from my hand and jammed it on his head. “I’m the good looking brother, remember? So you two should play fair. If there’s a shortage of referees, we can always leave baseball and go and hunt down a few grizzlies.”

“There isn’t a shortage of referees,” Esme’s voice answered from the house as her footsteps approached us. “I’m the referee. I’m always the referee. Now, why don’t you boys give Jasper his cap back?”

I smirked at Emmett, receiving one of his dimpled-grins in return. “Who said it’s Jasper’s?” Emmett asked innocently.

“Yeah,” I butted in. “It doesn’t have his name written on it.”

“Actually it does,” Alice’s voice answered from behind us.

“What the …?” Emmett took off the cap, and sure enough, there was the asshole’s name written on the inner seam of the cap … in Alice’s handwriting.

“You would betray your brothers like that?” I asked her feigning a hurtful expression on my face. “Oh, little sister, how you wound me!”

She just rolled her eyes at me and snatched the cap from Emmett’s hands. Putting it on top of Jasper’s dirty blond hair, she grinned at us.

Jasper laid a kiss on her lips and smiled impishly at me. “That’s the benefit of having a psychic wife.”

I resisted an urge to stick my tongue out at him like a two year old kid and settled on sending him a grimace instead.

“I can always go and buy caps for you guys as well.” The grin in Alice’s voice made me reconsider whether I wanted a cap or not. Judging by her tone, the cap she intended on getting us could very well be clown hats.

 

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

 

Jasper smacked the ball hard enough to make a sound like a thunderclap for the fourth time, making Emmett hi-five him, and I laughed at the two of them.

No matter how much I resented Carlisle’s choice of meal, I could never resent him for this family life he had created for all of us. Aside from the part where they thought I was to be handled with a little bit of tact, I enjoyed being a part of this family.

I wouldn’t change my brothers even a little bit; or Alice for that matter. Rosalie was a little debatable, but if she toned down the bitchy attitude a little bit, I think even she would be tolerable.

Alice was just taking her place to pitch when suddenly she stopped. Her eyes went glassy and she took in a deep breath. She was back to her usual self in a few short moments. No one other than Jasper and I even noticed her change in stance.

Jasper looked at her closely, possibly trying to check whether she was okay.

She nodded at him in reassurance.

And then she turned to face me. She didn’t let me hear her thoughts like I hoped she would—like she did whenever a vision bothered her.

No, this time, she smiled sweetly at me, and then looking up at the windy sky, she sighed.

The wind is changing, brother. Her thought didn’t reassure me—not even a little bit. Instead, it made me feel restless.

What change is the wind gonna bring with it?

 

BPOV

 

I sat there, holding my head between my hands for how long I had no idea. I kept my gaze fixed on the papers lying on the table before me, fearing that they might disappear if I moved my eyes.

“Yo, Bee-girl!”

I looked up from my seat at the sound of my best friend’s voice. “What are ya doing here, girlfriend?”

Her attempt at trash-talking made me smile. “Hey, Ang.”

Angela Webber, the daughter of the preacher who ran this home, plopped her ass down next to me and looked closely at me. “Bee? What’s wrong? Where are ya?”

“I’m right here, Ang.” As an after-thought, I added, “For now.”

She splayed her hand in front of me, letting me see the mark proudly on display on her wrist.

“Another tatt? Really?” I asked her. “You turned 18 just three months ago! And already you have what? Four tattoos?”

“Five to be exact,” she replied with a wink, motioning at her pants …. very close to her crotch.

I held my hands up in surrender. “I don’t even wanna know about number-whatever!”

She bumped her shoulder with me and grinned. “That’s what you do when you become all legit, Bee-girl. Get a tatt, fuck Ben Cheney, drink at least half your weight … you know, all the crazy shit? You don’t sit alone looking like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“First, you’re not legally allowed to drink until you become 21,” I said to her. “And secondly, Ben Cheney? Really? I thought he was too much of a geek for you.”

Her smile broadened. “Well, you know what they say—it’s usually the quiet ones.”

“O—kay,” I said cutting her off before she could start sharing about her sexcapades with sweet, innocent Ben Cheney. “In any case, I just turned 18.”

“Yes, you did,” she said with a nod before pulling out a large envelope from behind her. “And you’re also officially a high school graduate.”

“Shut up!” I exclaimed, almost tearing the package from her hands. Opening the envelope I found the papers I had been hoping to get for about a week now—my GED test results.

I shuffled through the papers and then let out a sigh of relief before launching myself at my friend. “Oh, Angie, I passed!” I told her, pulling her into a hug.

She hugged me back, but said in a grouchy manner, “As if there was ever a doubt of that!”

When we settled back on the couch, Angela raised an eyebrow at me. “So who was the stiff I saw leaving the room a while back?”

I shrugged. “A lawyer.”

“For real?” She looked at me in surprise. “Damn! Girlfriend, I never thought I’d see the day when you’d join the rebellion,” she said, wiping off an imaginary teardrop. “What did ya do?”

“I turned 18.”

“Meaning?” she asked, looking confused.

I took a deep breath and decided to spill it all out. I had to confide in someone, and Angela was the only one I trusted with my life.

“That guy who came here? His name is Jenks. He’s a lawyer … he’s my parents lawyer.”

“Your birth parents?” she asked in a whisper, her fake trash-talking style— which she was trying to perfect just to annoy the hell out of her father—falling away. “Do they want to meet you? After all these years?”

I shook my head, feeling the regret from an hour ago return in full force. “No. They’re dead, Ang.”

“Shit! Bee, I’m sorry.”

Her apologetic tone made me give her a small smile. “I didn’t even know the people. I’m not sure how to mourn the loss of someone I never had.”

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders, offering me her support as she said, “You never knew them, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t love you, Bee. I bet they’d be proud as hell of you if they saw you now.”

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Then why do you always give your dad such a hard time? He loves you too.”

She smiled, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “I know he does, but that doesn’t mean I have to live like a nun. I do what I feel like. He needs to learn to not to hover.”

A sigh bubbled up my throat. “At least you know he loves you. All I know is that they died when I was barely a year old and someone dropped me on the front step of your house.”

She gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, you’re loved. I love you like my own sister, Bee, and my dad loves you too … sometimes even more than me.”

I laughed at her remark and nodded. “You guys are the only family I’ve known, Ang.”

“So what now?”

Her question sounded so simple but felt like it was loaded with enough ammunition to blow up my head. I reached out to grab the papers from the table and held them up to her.

“Jenks had instructions to come find me on my 18th birthday. He just disclosed my parents’ last will and testament to me.”

Angela frowned from beside me. “How did he know where to find you?”

I bit my lip, not yet believing his explanation myself. “He said he searched for Isabella Swan all over the country until he found me.”

“But there must be more than one Isabella Swan in the continental U.S.!”

I nodded. “Yeah, but he showed me my mother’s photo and unless he was really good with photoshop or whatever the hell they use to brush up pics now-a-days, I think I’m the one he’s been looking for.”

“Why?”

I handed her the photo Jenks had gotten me—the only photo I had of my real birth parents—their wedding picture.

A man in a charcoal grey tuxedo was holding a woman wearing a simple wedding gown to his chest and looking down at her with what I could only call pure adoration.

His face didn’t look much like mine to be honest. He was good looking, I supposed, and with a mustache. However, his brown eyes looked hauntingly familiar because they were just like mine.

The woman in the picture, however, was a different story altogether. She looked like an older version of me—an older, happier and very much in love with the man version of me.

“You look like your mom.”

Angela’s words made me smile.

I nodded and continued on with the story. “Anyway, Jenks said they left me a sizeable bank account and a house in a place called Forks.”

“Never heard of it,” she said.

I took a deep breath, knowing she’s gonna kick my ass for this. “It’s in the west coast, Ang. A town outside of Seattle, Washington.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and I’m leaving for there in two days.”

Just as I suspected, my answer made her look at me like I had lost the screws holding my skull together. “Bee, are you out of your mind, girl? You can’t go there.”

“That’s my home, Ang,” I tried to reason with her.

She just shook her head and said, “No deal, Bee. You don’t know the place and you don’t know the peeps. Like hell I’m gonna let you go.”

“I need answers …”

She held up a hand to silence me. “And you’ll get them. Dad will find someone to look into your parents. Besides, you don’t have the money to buy a plane ticket to Washington,” she said with a satisfied smile, as if that lack of money was going to stop me.

“I already have my ticket,” I told her calmly.

“What?”

I held up the piece of paper I had been looking at when she walking in and tried to smile. “Jenks was kind enough to buy a ticket for me with some of the money my parents left me. I’m going home in two days … to the place I was born in.”

She sighed, suddenly looking defeated. “You won’t stay even if dad asked you to, would you?”

“No. Ang, I love you and your dad. You’ve been my family since I can remember,” I said slowly. “But these are my parents … the people who gave birth to me. I owe it to myself to see the place where I was supposed to grow up in. Please try to understand.”

She finally gave me a curt nod. “Fine, you go, but always remember you have family here as well, okay?”

I nodded, hugging her once more. “I know that, Ang. I’m gonna miss you like crazy.”

 

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

 

I gripped the straps of my backpack tighter, and turned around to look at the place I grew up in for one last time.

The building sat like a dark shadow against the bright Arizona sun.

It is said that in order to see the light, you must step into the dark first, and that was what I was doing.

I was leaving the known life here in sunny Arizona to pursue a life in the gloomy Washington town of Forks.

A change was coming, and I hoped it was going to be a good one.

Turning back to look ahead, I got into the cab waiting for me.

I’m going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So how was the first peek into Bella’s mind?
> 
> This fic is gonna be mostly in Edward’s POV. The boy has so many things to figure out, don’t you agree?
> 
> Share your thoughts with me and leave a review, please?
> 
> The song rec for this chapter is Wind of Change by Scorpions.
> 
> If you haven’t voted for The Perfect Light today, go and vote! The poll closes on the 31st!
> 
> http:// twifanfictionrecs . com / category / top-ten-fics / top-ten-completed-fics-dec-2014 / (Remove the spaces before hitting enter) :)
> 
> Fic Rec: A Life Unplanned by savannavansmutsmut
> 
> Summary: Bella was doing fine raising her son on her own. That is, until her mother convinced her that her son should have a sibling. Not wanting her kids to have different fathers and look like a slut, she tracks down Man-Whore, Edward Cullen, and father of her son, unbeknownst to him. It's been a few years and Edward has changed a lot, or has he...
> 
> This fic already owns me. I have high hopes for this jerkward. Check it out and leave my friend, savannavansmutsmut some love. :)
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	4. Chapter-3: Scheming Minds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews for the last chapter have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> Anyways, ready for the next chapter? Read on!

Chapter-3: Scheming Minds

 

EPOV

 

I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard Carlisle call for me from downstairs. “Edward, can you come down here? We need to talk.”

I tried to sense who else was there with him as I got dressed and was shocked to sense Alice’s gleeful voice coming from the same spot as Carlisle. “This is gonna be so much fun!”

Oh hell no! For a split second, I worried that my pesky little sister might have told Carlisle about my monthly hunting trips.

I wasn’t worried that I’d get into trouble with Carlisle or rest of the family. Not really. I just didn’t want to endure their condescending looks, or in Carlisle’s case, a lecture on how much of a disappointment I was to him.

No, Alice wouldn’t do that to me, I reasoned with myself as I pulled on my shirt. She knows that if she rats me out, I’ll tell Jasper her secret, and she’ll end up losing him. She won’t risk that in her right mind.

Feeling a tad more composed, I opened the door and went downstairs—ready to face whatever the fuck they were planning now.

“Carlisle, you wanted to see me?”

My creator and adoptive father stood up from where he was sitting with Esme and held out a hand to me in welcome. “Yes, come here, son. I feel like we don’t get to spend much time together.”

I tried not to pull a face at that. As if I wished to be lectured on the price of humanity day in and day out! I shuddered internally at the thought.

Esme saved me from answering that one. “Carlisle, if you would just spend more time at home you’ll get to spend time with our children. You work too much sometimes, honey.”

Carlisle smiled at her and nodded. “I just want to work as much as I can to help people. But I guess you’re right. I need to cut back a few hours.”

I raised an eyebrow at them and said, “Not that I don’t love watching you two make googly eyes at each other, but I thought you said you needed to talk to me, Carlisle.”

Esme broke out into a laugh at my smart-ass remark and kissed Carlisle on the cheek. “Go on. You’re son’s getting impatient.”

Clearing his throat, Carlisle looked up at me. “Edward, Alice has come up with a bright idea.”

Across the room, I saw Alice smile widely at us. Fuck! This must be something dreadful.

“Well, Alice is always full of bright ideas, isn’t she?” I said sarcastically.

Carlisle wasn’t fazed by me and simply said, “Well, in this case, I think her idea is a brilliant one.”

I stood there in silence, waiting for him to continue.

“Edward, since you refused to go to school like your siblings when we relocated two months ago, you know we’ve been telling people that you’re a very intelligent boy and skipped a few grades.”

“Yes,” I prompted with a nod. “And now I’m taking a year off for Jasper and Alice to finish high school so that we can all go to college together. I know. What does it have to do with Alice?”

He leaned back on the couch and smiled at Alice. “Well, your sister seems to think you need something to do with your free time.”

I snorted. “Really? I need something to occupy my free time?”

Turning my head to look at the traitor I said, “Newsflash, Alice. I’m a vampire. All I have is free time … forever. You think you have something I can do to occupy myself until the end of eternity?”

“You don’t need to sound so bleak, Edward,” Carlisle said in a reprimanding tone. “She’s just trying to help you, and your mother and I think it’s a good idea.”

For a moment, I thought to tell him to his face that he was just my creator, not father. However the thought of hurting Esme with my asshol-ishness stopped me, and begrudgingly, I asked, “What is it?”

He stared at me for a long moment as if he knew something rebellious was going through my head before sighing. “We thought you would like to use that medical degree you got back in the nineties.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“Edward!”

Esme’s gasp made me throw a sheepish smile at her. “Sorry for cussing, Mom.”

Then I turned toward Carlisle. “Are you out of your mind?” I repeated sans the f-bomb. “I drink human blood, Carlisle. You think I should be in a place where some or other human is constantly bleeding?”

He opened his mouth, but I spoke again. “Or do you think I would pass off as a young doctor? They’ll think I’m a kid pretending to play doctor anyway!”

He held his hands up to stop me, and when I did, he started talking. “Firstly, it will be your test of self-control, Edward. You will be surrounded by all those humans but you won’t drink from them. I’ll have your blood bag at my office for you if it gets to be too much for you at any point.”

“And secondly, you won’t be posing there as a doctor. The people at the hospital know I have another son. So you will just be working as a volunteer there, trying to earn experience before heading off to med school.”

I scoffed at him. “You think I’d prefer to clean human poop all the damn day than stay at home? No deal, Carlisle.”

He let out a frustrated groan. “You won’t be doing any sort of cleaning, Edward. You’ll be working for me and helping me with the prescription writing and as such.”

I grimaced at that. It was better than cleaning some sick bastard’s shit, but spending the whole day with this one didn’t seem all that appealing either.

He caught the look on my face and smiled in what he must have thought a reassuring way. “Don’t worry, son, I’m sure you’ll like working with me. Saving lives can be very rewarding.”

Taking lives can be much more pleasing, Dad, I wanted to say, but gave him a tight smile instead.

“Are you sure nothing bad will come from this?”

It was Alice who answered my question. “How can anything bad come from it, when the idea came from me?”

Her haughty answer made me glare at her. “Fine. But if anything happens, it’s on you.”

I turned my attention back to Carlisle and asked, “When does this … rewarding feat begin?”

He laughed at my obvious dislike for the task and shrugged. “I don’t see why you can’t start when you’re ready.”

“So never?” I pressed hopefully, knowing that the guy was interested in giving me anything but hope.

Esme shook her head at me and smiled. “You enjoy being difficult to your father, don’t you?”

You have to ask? I thought to myself. I live to cause Carlisle Cullen the maximum level of difficulty.

“I don’t even want to know the answer to that question,” Carlisle said with a chuckle. “Edward, I’ll see you at the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning for your orientation program.”

I suppressed a groan of annoyance and glowered at the pesky girl humming happily at the corner of the living room.

Alice, I honestly despise you, I thought of saying to her.

Her smile widened as she picked up a vase full of artificial flowers and brought them to her nose. Seriously could you at least pretend to be smelling some real fucking flowers?

Aww, I love you too, brother, she thought to me. Besides, even if they are artificial, these flowers are still scented.

I shook my head at her stupidity. Yeah, they’re scented with the smell of dust.

She finally put the damn vase down and stuck her tongue out at me. You need to learn to trust my instincts, brother.

A thought quickly flashed through her mind—too fast for me to catch anything but a glimpse—a glimpse of that meadow.

My eyes narrowed as soon as recognition hit me.

So this has something to with her … the intangible girl?

Well, fuck this, I thought. If this is gonna be the last of my carefree days, I’m gonna go down hunting.

 

BPOV

 

“Honey, we’re here.”

I unclenched my fists and opened my eyes at the sound of a soft voice talking to me. Turning my head, I saw the kind-looking old lady who had sat beside me during the flight to Seattle smile at me.

“Nervous flyer?” she asked.

“I must be,” I replied, putting on a brave smile on my face. “It’s my first time flying.”

She patted my hand. “You’ll get used to it as you grow up.”

I didn’t tell her that I was already a grown up. I was there to take charge of whatever my parents left me and make a life for myself.

I didn’t tell her any of that. Instead, I smiled gratefully and said, “Thanks. I’m sure I’ll be fine the next time I fly.”

If I ever get to fly on an airplane again, I added silently.

 

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

 

Stepping out of the airport, I found myself in a different world than I’ve known all my life. Gone was the sunny climate, short skirts and light tanktops. The sky seemed to be pouring down on us and the people? The people were wearing hoodies or raincoats.

Welcome to the West Coast, Bella, I said to myself before reaching inside my bag for my cell phone.

In the two days after Jenks’ visit to me, Ben had managed to find a pair of busted cell phones for Angela and me and fixed them for us so that we can keep in touch across the country.

As the phone started up, I felt my lips stretch into a smile. Childishly, I had set my parents’ photo as my wallpaper. A sense of belonging washed through me as I looked at their face. I wasn’t alone. I had a family … once.

Before I could dial the Angela’s number, the phone started ringing, and I pushed the answer button to take the call. “Hey, Ang.”

“Hey? HEY? Are you fucking kidding me, Swan? Your flight was supposed to land twenty five minutes ago and you haven’t called me yet.” Angela’s angry voice from the other end made me smile.

At least I have someone who cares for me.

“Well, you called me before I could call you!” I told her. “Besides, airport security still takes a shit-ton of time to let you through even if you practically have no luggage with you.”

“Yeah? Well …” her voice trailed off, telling exactly what she was feeling. She was worried for me.

“Hey, Ang?” I called her name softly.

“What?” she grumbled in my ear.

“I miss you too, and I wish more than anything that you could be here with me today.”

Her anger seemed to disappear with my confession, and she asked eagerly, “Do you need me to come out there? I can persuade dad to let me go.”

I started to shake my head even though she couldn’t see me. “No, Angela. That’s not what I meant. I wish you were here with me, but I also know that this is something I need to do alone. I need to … discover myself, I guess. I’m not making any sense to you, am I?” I asked her ruefully.

She was quiet for a long moment and when she spoke, her voice was soft like it used to be before she decided to learn trash-talking. “No, you make sense to me, Bee. I just don’t like the idea of you being alone in an unknown place. And you’re right. I do miss you.”

I laughed at her admission. “I’m not gonna be alone. Jenks said there will be woman with me. He said he has asked one of the neighbors to come and spend some time with me until I get settled in the house. Besides, I have a feeling that Forks isn’t gonna be so bad.”

She sighed. “Fine. I do hope you find what you’re looking for in there. Just know that if you ever need anything, I’m here.”

“I know you are, Ang,” I replied simply.

A low sound of sniffling told me she was getting emotional, so I decided not to make her cry anymore. “Well, I’m at the parking lot now, and Jenks said he’d have a car rented and waiting for me here when I get here.”

She cleared her throat and asked, “You’re gonna drive down to Spoons?”

I laughed at her deliberate mistake. “It’s called Forks, Angela. And yes, it’s a four hour drive. So when Jenks heard I earned my driving license two years ago, he suggested that I drive. It will be a good way to calm myself down.”

She laughed and said, “See? And you thought driving the delivery van for Mrs. Howard was not good enough.”

“No, what I said was that getting my license just to drive a delivery van wasn’t good enough,” I corrected her.

“You were never gonna just drive a delivery van, Bee-girl,” she said after a bit. “You’ll do good there, I know it.”

“Thanks, Ang,” I whispered into the phone before disconnecting the call.

 

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

 

After trying in vain to find Mr. Jenks in the crowds of people awaiting the arrival of their families and friends, I headed up to the security desk next to the line for cabs.

Maybe he had forgotten to rent a car for me. I’ll just try to rent one myself with the cash he gave me while visiting Arizona.

“Hi, miss, how can I help you?” the woman sitting behind the security desk asked me with an unusually cheerful smile.

“Uh, hi,” I started timidly. “I need to rent a car to drive to a nearby town. Can you tell me how to do that?”

“Of course,” she said with the smile still pasted on her face. Seriously what’s there to be so happy about?

“I’ll need to see your driver’s license and the name of your destination.”

I handed her the license. “The town I’m headed to is about four hours away from SeaTac. It’s called Forks.”

Her eyes snapped to my face as soon as I spoke the name of the town. “That’s certainly a popular choice at present,” she said.

“What?” I asked with a frown.

Why would such a small town be a popular choice?

“Well, I’ve already had one gentleman book a car for …” she stopped as her eyes fell on my license. “But you’re her!”

“I’m sorry?” I was seriously beginning to question the woman’s sanity by that point.

“You’re Isabella Swan,” she said with a beaming smile on her face. “The guy I was talking about already booked a rental for you.”

“Oh!”

I guess Jenks didn’t forget about me after all, I thought with a sigh of relief.

She held out a set of keys for me and said, “It’s already been paid for, and a guy from the rental services will go to the address provided by your friend in two days to pick the car back up.”

I have a car for two days? Cool!

I nodded appreciatively at her, suddenly not minding her toothpaste commercial-like smile anymore.

Taking the keys from her I smiled. “Thank you.”

When she led me toward the car that had been rented for me, I felt a genuine smile tug at my lips. I didn’t care that Jenks was practically a stranger to me, but I had to admit the guy had great choice.

There, sitting in front of me, was a bad-ass looking red car.

The woman held out a hand toward the car and spoke in a manner that suggested she was taught just the names of the cars and that’s about it. “Here you are. This is a Ford Mustang Boss 302. It’s got great features. I’m sure you’ll have fun driving it.”

I closed my jaws and grinned at her. “Thanks. I think I will too.”

 

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

 

Driving the Mustang felt like a dream to me. For the time being, I didn’t care that I might be driving into what might end up being an emotional roller coaster ride. No, I was actually excited to be driving such an amazing car for the first time in my life.

I had just crossed the “Welcome to Forks, Washington” town-marker when I saw it.

A body was lying on the road.

I slammed my feet down on the brakes, making the tires let out horrible squealing noise as the car came to a stop … just a few inches away from where body was.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” I cursed my luck for driving into the town and crashing into some poor man who must have had too much to drink.

“Great going, Bella,” I chastised myself. “Forks is gonna thank you for helping in keeping the population count down.”

I waited for a moment to see if the body would move, but when it didn’t, I unlocked the car door and cautiously got out.

Looks like I was gonna come home with a bang. Awesome!

 

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

Meanwhile … 5,560 miles away from Forks Town Border …

 

The sound of a cell phone pinging notified the man sitting alone in the dark room of an incoming text message.

He reached out to pick the phone up from the table in front of him and opened the message.

It was a short message—comprising of only ten words. It said:

Charlie and Reneé Swan’s daughter has just reached Forks, Washington.

A slow smile played on the man’s lips as he put the phone down. The plan he had put into works eighteen years ago was finally going to bring results.

With a contented sigh he rested his head down on his folded hands.

His time was coming … at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know I’m a horrible person for ending it there, but it was necessary.
> 
> I did give you the longest chapter yet for RoALS. So that’s gotta count as something, right? :)
> 
> Anyway, what are your thoughts on it so far? What do you think about this very different version of Angela?
> 
> Share your thoughts with me and leave a review, please?
> 
> The song rec for this chapter is Homecoming (Minutes to Midnight) by Linkin Park.
> 
>  
> 
> If you haven’t voted for The Perfect Light today, go and vote! The poll closes on the 31st!
> 
>  
> 
> http:// twifanfictionrecs . com / category / top-ten-fics / top-ten-completed-fics-dec-2014 / (Remove the spaces before hitting enter) :)
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	5. Chapter-4: A Touch of Innocence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews for this story have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> Ready for the next chapter? Read on!

** Chapter-4: A Touch of Innocence **

 

 

 

** EPOV **

 

 

 

“Fuck this shit!” I said to myself as I leapt out of my window.

 

I wasn’t due to hunt a human for two more weeks yet, but if I was going to be around human blood every damn day from tomorrow, I figured I would go hunting right now even if just to assure myself that I wasn’t going to let Carlisle’s love for humanity affect me.

 

Since I had hunted near the Canadian border just two weeks back, I decided to go toward Port Angeles instead.

 

I spared a look at my car and then shrugged. I knew that if I took it, I’ll get everyone else suspicious about where I might be headed. Apparently, our “adoptive father” was worried that I might fall off the proverbial wagon and hunt innocent humans. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know that I never got on the damned wagon in the first place.

 

Alice will see where I was headed but I didn’t think she would even be bothered to try and stop me.

 

I was wrong. Just as I started to head into the forest around our house, my phone started ringing.

 

Even without looking at the caller I.D., I knew it was Alice.

 

“To what do I owe this unpleasantness?” I asked as I took the call.

 

Her tone of voice told me that she was feeling particularly gleeful as she greeted me. “Hey, big brother. Are you headed for Canada?”

 

I opened my mouth, ready to tell her to piss off when she spoke again. “Oh wait! You’re planning on Port Angeles, aren’t you?”

 

“What’s your point, Alice?” I asked, already feeling tired of the conversation.

 

“My point is that you shouldn’t go so close to home.”

 

She waited about one tenth of a second for me to acknowledge her request and when I didn’t, she added, “Edward, I know you feel like you can’t stop this madness. I know that. But is it too much to ask you to take it as far away from our home as you can?”

 

“Why?” I asked. “You know I make a clean job out of it.”

 

“It doesn’t matter. We _just_ moved here, and I don’t want to move away anytime soon,” she answered, her voice sounding commanding.

 

I smirked to myself as I told her, “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” And then before she could badger my anymore, I disconnected the call.

 

If she thought I’d consider her problems when she purposefully shoved me toward the hellhole that was Forks General Hospital, she was sorely mistaken.

 

With one last look at my car, I turned my head toward the forest.

 

_Running it is._

 

Shoving my phone inside my back pocket, I started to run toward the town border. If Alice thought Port Angeles was close to home, I couldn’t wait till she realized my target had just changed to Forks.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

When I reached the town border, I stood beside the “The City of Forks Welcomes You” sign and strained my ears to listen past the sounds of the nightlife.

 

Luckily, the boring town Carlisle chose to move us had no nightlife. So despite of it being a Sunday night, there were no rushing cars or sound of music blaring from clubs to distract me.

 

And soon, I heard it.

 

The sound of an engine coming toward the town border from outside.

_Dinner’s here, Masen_ , I told myself as I checked around me to see if there were any witnesses.

 

Seeing no one around, I waited until I could see the headlights of a red car. I felt my instincts take over as I counted down to the seconds before the car would hit the town border.

 

The moment it crossed the signboard, I used one of the few perks of being a vampire—our super speed—and ran to the middle of the road before lying down there, pretending to be unconscious.

 

I kept my eyes closed and allowed my ears to take over.

_One … two … three … four …_

 

The sound of tires squeaking told me that I had been noticed, and the vibrations of the street coming from the skidding car alerted me that the driver had just hit the breaks.

 

I counted the seconds, and I was at one hundred and fifty eight when the sound of a car door opening reached me.

 

“Shit!” I heard someone curse from the general direction of the car and then sounds of shuffling feet came to me.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” a soft voice asked from beside me.

 

The sound told me that my choice for dinner tonight was a girl. I liked hunting girls, not because I was some kind of an Incubus or anything of course.

 

I didn’t like playing with my food in _that_ way. No, I liked hunting women because their skin was easy to break. Practicality always came first for me.

 

“Mister? Can you hear me? Can you tell me if you’re okay?” the voice asked again—this time sounding more desperate.

 

A part of me—the one that wasn’t driven by bloodlust—smiled at the innocent question.

 

I wanted to tell her that no, I was not okay, and neither was she. Why? Because she was about to become a vampire’s dinner. A vampire who was there just to despise his creator.

 

Instead of answering her, I opened my eyes and immediately found myself stuck into a pair of brown eyes looking anxiously down at me.

_Those idiots who write poetry about blue-eyed beauties clearly haven’t seen this brown-eyed one._ The thought came to me out of nowhere and I had to shake myself out of those thoughts _. What the fuck?_

 

Slowly, I sat up from where I was pretending to be hit by her car—a typical way for me to lure unsuspecting humans in, and looked at her closely. I guess she was pretty … beautiful even—if you liked the understated kind of beauty, I mean.

 

She wasn’t beautiful the way Rosalie was, no, she was beautiful in a different way. Hers was a more approachable beauty unlike my adoptive sister’s.

 

My eyes followed the graceful column of her neck where I could see the slight rise and fall of her skin from her blood being circulated underneath.

 

Usually, by now, I would’ve allowed my teeth to sink into in her pretty little neck, but something told me that this wasn’t going to be like the usual.

 

It was different. That _she_ was different from my usual targets.

_What the fuck is wrong with you, Edward? This is a human and you’re a vampire—the prey and its predator. Why are you hesitating?_ I asked myself.

 

The silence seemed to have stretched on for long enough.

 

I needed to speak.

 

I needed to get away from her.

 

I needed to know what this was that was making me think all these crazy stuff.

 

With so many thoughts running through my mind, I chose to do the last one. I needed to know what was happening.

 

I was about to open my mouth when I felt something like a jolt of electricity go through me. Gasping at the sensation, I looked down only to find a small, warm hand grasping my large, cold one.

 

“Holy shit! You’re freezing. You need to move. Do you need me to help you up?” she asked me, and then before I could answer her, she had her arms wrapped around me as she tried to make me stand up.

 

I could very well have resisted and allowed her to keep on trying until she gave up and just left me there. Or I could have taken this opportunity to sink my teeth in her neck.

 

She leaned into me, sending a whiff of her smell in my way, and I felt myself unable to resist her. If I were a human I would’ve thought it was her pheromones that was making it difficult for me to resist her, but in this case, I was pretty certain it was the sweet smell of her blood.

 

It had to be.

 

Something about the innocent way she showed her concern for me—a complete stranger who she literally found in the middle of a street—mesmerized me, and instead of killing her—like I had fully intended to do—I allowed her to help me stand up.

 

“Here we go,” she said softly as she brushed away dust from my jacket.

 

What struck me as odd was that unlike most humans, she wasn’t shying away from me.

_Doesn’t she feel the fear of being in presence of her predator?_ I wondered. _Is she just that trusting, or am I losing my touch?_

 

This was strange and something that had never happened to me before. Even if the humans didn’t know who I was, they still seemed somewhat afraid of me. They always drew back from my presence.

 

 _Well,_ almost _always_ , I corrected myself. _Because this girl, whoever she was, clearly wasn’t feeling a smidgen of that fear._

 

I looked at her once again, this time, trying to get a read on the thoughts running through her head.

 

It was then that I realized that I couldn’t hear her thoughts—one more thing I had never encountered before.

_Why is her mind silent to me?_ I found myself speculating.

 

“Are you badly hurt?” her question broke through my thoughts, and I found myself shaking my head.

 

“Can you walk?” she asked again. “You should get inside my car and get away from the cold air for a bit.”

 

 _I should get away from you_ , I wanted to tell her, but instead, I found myself saying, “Thank you.”

 

Even though my most basic instinct told me to drain her of her blood and then leave her there, I allowed her to pull me inside her car.

 

She closed the car door and then started to tinker with the heater, setting it on full blast and then smiled at me. “Don’t worry. You’ll heat up in no time.”

 

“Thanks,” I said again.

_Fuck! Why the hell was I saying the same shit over and over again?_ I asked myself in frustration.

 

Oddly enough, she didn’t find my sudden lack of vocabulary off-putting. No, she just smiled kindly up at me and held out a water bottle. “Do you need a drink of water?”

 

I should have told her that I didn’t drink water, or better yet, still have gone for her throat, but instead, I took the bottle from her and said, “It might help.”

 

She let out a small giggle and immediately put a hand over her mouth looking horrified. “Oh I’m so sorry. I … uh … I laugh at inappropriate times?” Her statement came out sounding more like a question.

 

I smiled at her, unable to stop myself, and asked, “Are you telling me or asking me?”

 

She blushed—a beautiful shade of pink spreading on her cheeks as she looked down at the heater. “Do you think the heater’s working?”

 

I just nodded, keeping my eyes trained on her.

 

Her cheeks were pink with what seemed like exhaustion and cold, and something tugged into my dead heart as I looked at her.

 

For the first time since I was turned, I wanted to be a man … a _human_ man.

 

I wanted to have the chance to ask a woman out.

 

It was so strange. In all the years living under the same roof as three loved up couples, I never had the urge to have a girl of my own. But suddenly, this one girl was making me want that.

_What is going on with me?_

 

As I sat there, trying to understand all these feelings running through me, my phone chimed.

 

She looked up at me, and I shrugged. “Excuse me. I think it’s my sister,” I told her, even though I didn’t have to.

 

I brought the phone out of my pocket and saw that I was right. A message was waiting in my inbox … from Alice.

 

I opened the message and when I read it, I was shocked … another thing that was very uncommon for me.

****

**_Congratulations, brother! You have found her._ **

 

One second … one whole second, I just sat there, unable to comprehend what I was seeing and then it all clicked.

_Holy fuck! Alice thinks this is the_ intangible _girl … my supposed mate!_

 

If there was a time for me to get the hell away from this girl, I believed it was now!

 

 

 

** BPOV **

 

 

 

“I need to go,” the insanely-hot-and-somewhat-weird guy I had almost run over told me.

 

“Oh!” That was all I could say to him in response.

_Really, Bee? Oh? That’s all you’ve got?_ I heard Angela admonish me in my head. _He’s a hot as fuck guy and all you’ve done since you’ve met him is let your verbal diarrhea run wild._

 

Although I wanted to flip the Angela in my head off, I knew she was right. The guy must have been in shock and all I had done since meeting him is talk and ask him again and again if he was okay, not letting him say anything edgewise.

 

He looked at me with wide eyes and murmured, “Shit! I’m …”

 

And then he was gone.

 

Faster than I could have expected, he was out of the car door and rushing into the forest lining the side of the road.

 

“Well, that was weird,” I said out loud before pulling the door closed.

 

I looked at the forest where he had disappeared once more before putting my foot on the accelerator. I needed to get home anyway.

 

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

“Fucking hell!” I cursed myself, Alice and the world in general as I saw the tail lights of the red Mustang move away from me.

 

I couldn’t believe that I had lost my cool like that. I was a predator, damn it! I was there to hunt … to have my last blood-bath before I was stuck in an office with Carlisle of all people.

 

I knew it must have looked like I was scared of that little girl to her, and if I was being entirely truthful to myself, I was … kind of.

_No!_ I told myself. _I don’t get distracted by the way a girl looks or smells when I want to hunt. I am not afraid of a girl. I just lost my appetite. Yeah, that’s it._

 

Having made up my mind that it had nothing to do with the girl and everything to do with my sudden lack of appetite, I started to head back home.

 

For the first time since I had tasted human blood, I walked away from it.

 

And it was all because of her. I was just too much of an idiot to realize it at that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So thoughts on the first meeting?
> 
> Sorry it was shorter than usual, but I felt that this bit of the story needed to be kept separated from the rest.
> 
> The next chapter will be longer I promise.
> 
> Hit me with your thoughts and leave a review, please?
> 
> I’ve entered a contest called MaytoDecemberRomanceContest. There are some amazing fics on there. Check them out and don’t forget to vote for your favorite. The voting starts from February, 1. Here’s the link to the contest page:
> 
> https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6289323/MaytoDecemberRomanceContest
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> The song rec for this chapter: Innocence by Avril Lavigne.
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	6. Chapter-5: Empty Playground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews for the last chapter have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> A special thanks to my granma, DataByteDL-FangirlinGranma, for her unyielding support to me. Love you unconditionally, Granma. xo
> 
> Ready for the next chapter? Read on!

** Chapter-5: Empty Playground **

****

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

After driving past the Forks’ Diner—which seemed like the only diner in the town, by the way—for the fourth time, I figured that I should probably call Jenks.

 

I was supposed to call him after I had crossed the town border, but the weird-sexy guy I met had made me forget all about old-slightly-balding J. Jenks.

 

Pulling my patched-up phone out, I dialed the number for my attorney.

 

“Jay here,” answered the scratchy voice of the one and only Jenks as soon as the call connected.

“Hi, it’s Bella …”

 

Before I could finish my sentence he greeted me boisterously. “Isabella! My dear, how are you?”

 

I bit my lip before phrasing my problem carefully. “Yeah … how I am actually is relevant to how soon you can come meet me at the Forks’ Diner.”

 

“What was that?” He sounded confused by my brilliant hinting.

_Really? Now I need to spell it out for you? Fine._

 

“Um … I … uh,” I waited for some other brilliant idea to come and swoop in to spare me the embarrassment, but it seemed like I had left all my bright ideas at Phoenix.

_All right then._

 

“I’m in Forks now and I kinda got lost,” I said bluntly.

 

“Kind of lost?”

 

“Yes,” I replied with a nod before remembering that he couldn’t see me. “I think I drove by the diner four times already.”

 

He laughed and said sympathetically, “I guess it’s going to be different for you getting used to the small-town life after growing up in a big city.”

 

I hummed in a non-committal manner, not wanting to get distracted from the fact that I was still lost. “Can you help me please?”

 

My request seemed to jolt him out of whatever he was going to say. “Sorry, my dear, I can’t,” he sounded pretty regretful as he replied to me. “I live in Port Angeles and I’m about to meet another client of mine.”

 

“Oh! Well, I think I can find some way to get to the house then,” I said, trying not to sound too bummed out.

 

He was quiet for a moment before asking me, “Where exactly are you?”

 

“I’m sitting in the car, parked right outside the diner. Why?”

 

His answer was quick this time. “All right. You stay right there and I’ll see what I can do for you. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

 

After a hasty goodbye, he hung up, leaving me to sit there alone and watch people going in and out of the diner.

 

Three minutes later, my phone rings.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Good news, dear. I managed to get hold of one of my people in Forks,” he said, sounding relieved. “He’s heading out to get you right now.”

 

“He knows where the house is?” I asked, wanting to be certain.

 

Jenks laughed in response. “Bella, your father was the chief of police in that town. Of course everyone knows where your house is.”

 

“Okay,” I mumbled. “Thanks, Jay.”

 

“Anytime,” he replied kindly. “I hope you get settled in easily.”

 

I thanked him once more before hanging up.

 

As I sat there, outside the shabby little diner, my mind went back to the man I had found lying in the middle of the road. So many questions were running through my mind …

_Who was he?_

_What was he doing there in the middle of the road?_

_What’s his name?_

_Why did he take off like that?_

 

I closed my eyes and tried to remember exactly what he looked like. He was tall; not heavily built, but definitely fit. In the rays from the street light, his hair looked brownish. He didn’t seem older than me, but something in his eyes made me think of him as a man and not a boy.

_Oh God, his eyes!_

 

They were the most vibrant shade of green, and the way he had looked at me made me feel like he was trying to look into my soul or something.

 

Tap … tap … tap …

 

The sound of someone tapping on my window made me push the thought of my handsome stranger out of my mind and look out the window.

 

A middle-aged man stood there with a smile on his face.

_This must be Jenks’ guy_ , I thought as I opened the window for him.

 

“Isabella?” he asked before I could ask him who he was.

 

“Yes …”

 

His smile broadened as he said, “Look at you! You’re all grown up! The last time I saw you, you were barely a year old. You grew up to look just like your ma.”

 

I felt my eyebrows pull together in confusion. “You knew my parents?”

 

He nodded. “Yes, I did. Your dad was my best friend,” he said sadly. Then he looked at me and tried to smile. “I’m Billy Black. I got a call from Jenks saying that you couldn’t find the way home.”

 

I returned his smile and held my hand out through the window. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Black.”

 

He shook it and then said, “Please call me Billy.”

 

“Billy,” I repeated with a nod. “Can you please show me the way?”

 

“It’s been a long time since I went to the house, but I think I can find it,” he responded and then got in the passenger side.

 

 

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

When we pulled up to the little white house, I felt something tug at my heart.

_This was the house I was born in._

_This is where my parents lived._

 

The sound of the car door closing made me look away from the now shabby-looking house and see Billy already walking toward my door.

 

I got out of the car and motioned to the house standing before us. “Is this it?”

 

Billy nodded, looking grim. “It is. It was such a beautiful house back when your folks bought it!” he said sadly. “It was a house full of love.”

 

Hearing him say stuff like that didn’t help with the sting at the back of my eyes. I blinked a few times, trying to keep the tears threatening to spill at bay.

_You didn’t know them, Bella. You can’t miss someone you didn’t know,_ I kept telling myself.

 

“Isabella, you’re here!” A woman in her early twenties greeted me enthusiastically as she stood up from the porch swing.

 

I frowned and started to ask who she was when Billy answered my unasked question. “This is my daughter, Rachel. She’s here to help you settle in.”

 

Rachel walked down the steps and pulled me into a hug as she said, “Welcome home, Isabella.”

 

Something about her overly-friendly way made me feel uneasy, and I carefully extracted myself from her forced embrace. I held my hand out to her instead. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 

She waved my hand away and said, “Oh honey, we’re practically family. You don’t shake hands with your family, you hug them.”

 

“O-kay?” my answer came out as a question because I honestly didn’t feel like we were like family in any way.

 

As the father-daughter duo ushered me up the stairs leading to the front porch of my parents’ house, I stopped.

_This is going to be the first time I step inside this house,_ I thought to myself. _Do I really want strangers present with me for this moment?_

 

The answer was simple— _no, I didn’t._

 

Turning around to face the welcoming—if not overly so—and seemingly good-hearted strangers, I tried to smile at them. “Billy, Rachel, thank you for bringing me here,” I said politely. “I think I’ll be able to manage by myself just fine from here.”

 

“But …” Rachel started to say but I put on a determined face and continued, “Really, I’ve had a long journey today. I don’t think I’ll be good company right now.”

_Translation: please leave me alone right now._

 

Thankfully, Billy seemed to understand my point. He put a hand on his daughter’s arm and said, “Rach, honey, let’s give Isabella some time to process being back to her home. Shall we?”

 

Rachel pouted slightly and said, “But Jenks said I’m supposed to keep her company!”

 

“I’m fine, honestly,” I said, not really feeling up to company at the moment. When she looked at me sadly, I added, “Maybe we can hang out tomorrow?”

 

She looked appeased by my words at last and nodded excitedly with a smile on her face.

 

With a final over-the-top-friendly hug and wave sent in my way, she left with her father, granting me the solitude I wanted.

 

Once I was alone, I pulled out the set of keys Jenks had given me when he visited me in Arizona and set out to wrestle with the rusty old lock on the front door.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

The moment I entered the house where my parents used to live, I regretted not taking Angela up on her offer to accompany me. For the first time since Jenks told me about my parents, I felt sadness creep up on me.

 

The front door opened to a fairly spacious living room. Closing the door behind me, I walked into the room and immediately felt the breath leave my lungs.

 

There—hanging from the wall—were various pictures of the same two people Jenks had shown me … my parents. I saw their wedding picture in the middle right next to another one with the man who must be my father with Billy Black.

_So they were friends._

 

It’s at that moment when the photo beside the wedding picture captured my notice. It was a photo of the same couple with a little bundle of pink in their arms. I stepped closer to the photograph and wiped away the layers of dust from the frame.

 

Once the dust was cleared off, I could see the matching looks of adoration on their faces as they looked down at the baby in their arms. And the child? She was looking intently at her parents while clutching one of her daddy’s fingers in her tightly fisted hand.

 

Underneath the photo a small handwritten note could be seen. It said, “The Swan Family: Charlie, Reneé and our beautiful baby girl, Isabella Swan.”

 

A gasp escaped my mouth as I saw the script. _It means they really did love me!_

 

As I looked around the house and noticed the peeling wallpapers, the dust covered surfaces and the plastic covered furniture. The more I looked, the more I wished I had had the chance to know them.

 

I started to feel tears threatening to spill from my eyes and so before going up the stairs, I decided to check out the backyard. I needed to go somewhere without the possibilities of telling me that this was a home filled with love once.

 

However, the moment I stepped through the kitchen door to the backyard, I knew that I was wrong.

 

The backyard was full of weeds and tall grasses but there was also a little fenced area that might have been a vegetable patch—somewhere Reneé Swan might have spent her evenings working.

 

A few feet away from the vegetable patch was another boxed-off area filled with mud and dirt. This could’ve been a sandbox … for a child. _For me, maybe?_

 

I walked up to the could-be sandbox and looked around, trying to remember something, _anything_ from here. As I walked around it, my foot caught on something and I looked down to see what it was.

 

A toy car … a police cruiser to be exact.

 

I remembered Billy saying that my father used to be the Police chief in this town. So maybe he got be a police cruiser as a toy car?

 

A shocked sound left my lips … a sound between a choked gasp and a bark of laughter. Before I could be seen crying my eyes out in the open by the neighbors, I ran inside the house.

 

I couldn’t find it in me to venture up the stairs that night. So I decided to sleep in a less personalized guest bedroom next to the living room. I stripped off the dusty bed sheets and lay down on the mattress, hoping for sleep to claim me.

 

Lying there in the darkness, I let the tears escape at last. I knew I was gonna cry at some point so I guess it was better to let it out when I was alone.

_Tomorrow is going to be a new day and I won’t let things get to me again,_ I promised to myself as I felt the much awaited sleep pull be under.

 

 

 

** EPOV **

 

 

 

“Shit!” I cursed in frustration as I read the same line for the hundred and twenty sixth time. After my escape from the innocent and delicious-smelling girl, I had decided to go through one of my medical books in hopes of preparing myself for tomorrow.

_Right, as if you can forget what you read a few years ago! You’re a fucking vampire, Edward,_ I told myself.

 

Fine, if I was being honest with myself, I was trying to read to get _her_ out of my mind—trying being the operative word here. Every damn time I tried to focus, her face kept popping up in my mind.

 

This was a different form of torture than the constant mind-reading, and I hated it. I hated it because I could see the question in her big brown eyes as she looked at my fleeing figure. I hated it because I could smell her undeniably exquisite scent in my hand from where she had touched me. I hated it because it made me want to go back to her … and not to kill her for a change.

 

Closing the book in my hand, I let it fall down to the floor. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Frustrated, I softly punched the wall beside me—careful not to leave a dent.

 

Of course my groan of frustration lured the persistent pain-in-the-ass girl who lived with me—Alice.

 

“I see you’re back from your hunt,” she said from the doorway, looking too fucking happy with herself.

 

“Alice …” I started as a warning, but she waved me off.

 

“Did you have a good time?”

 

I narrowed my eyes at her and asked suspiciously, “You told me to go far away from home because you knew that would make me go closer, didn’t you?”

 

She batted her eyelashes, a telling way of saying that she was about to lie. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

“Right,” I muttered sarcastically.

 

She waited for a half a heartbeat before letting go of the innocent façade and skipping up to sit on the bed, facing me.

 

“How was she?” Her eagerness was plain as the fucking day in her voice.

 

For a moment, I thought about feigning that I had no idea who she was talking about, but for some reason, I knew she’d make me spill my guts anyway. So I opted for nonchalance. “Human.”

 

She rolled her eyes at my statement. “I already know _that_! Tell me more. Does she look pretty in real life? How does her voice sound? What did she say to you? Did she seem interested in you?”

 

I grimaced at her rapid-fire questions and said firmly, “Everything about her screamed one thing.”

 

“Which is?” she asked with a satisfied grin as if I was going to profess my undying love for the human.

_Talk about being ridiculous!_

 

“Stay the fuck away from me, Edward Masen,” I said firmly.

 

She pulled a face at me. “Language, big brother.”

 

I raised an eyebrow at her and replied, “I seem to recall _someone_ cussing up a storm when she was watching _Moping with the Kardashians_ just last night.”

 

She looked offended at my ribbing. “It’s called _Keeping up with the Kardashians_ , Edward. And of course I was cussing. It was like watching a train wreck happen.”

 

I nodded. “That’s pretty much what my life is, Alice.”

 

She sobered up immediately and placed her hand on my head. “You’re wrong, Edward. You’ll see.”

 

She waited for me to answer her, but when I kept resolutely quiet, she sighed and started to walk out of the room. Just before leaving, she turned and thought to me, **_You’ll be a Cullen one day, brother. Trust me._**

 

When it came to premonitions, I did trust my sister and that made her words even more scary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have absolutely nothing against the Kardashians. It’s all Edward, I tell you! ;)
> 
> Anyway, thoughts? Share them with me and leave a review. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Night Changes by One Direction.
> 
> If you haven’t voted for the MaytoDecemberRomanceContest yet, go and vote now! The entries are awesome, and I might have something in there too. ;)
> 
> Here’s the link for the contest page: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6289323/MaytoDecemberRomanceContest
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	7. Chapter-6: Just Another Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews for the last chapter have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> A special shout-out and a big squishy hug to my very own granma, DataByteDL-FangirlinGranma for being my personal cheerleader. I love you, Granma. xo
> 
> Ready for the next chapter? Read on!

** Chapter-6: Just Another Beginning **

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

Standing under the shower-head, I felt the hot water cascade down my back, and my mind went to thoughts of _her_ … again.

_Fucking hell!_

 

It was like the feeling of her touch on my hand had seeped in through my skin and was now etched into my bones. That’s the only reason why the hot shower would remind me of her touch, right?

_Yeah, right_ , I snorted to myself. That sounded corny even to me.

_This has nothing to do with this girl_ , I tried to tell myself. _She is a stranger you met in the middle of the road, you idiot. You’re just having sort of a delusion because you missed your dinner last night._

 

I didn’t know if being a delusional vampire was possible, but to me, it sounded better than being a mated one—mated with a human no less.

 

I leaned my head against the cold tile wall of the shower and hoped like hell that I was right. It had to be the bloodlust talking.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

“Edward? Honey, are you feeling alright?” Esme’s worried voice greeted me when I walked into the living room where Carlisle was waiting for me.

 

I nodded in answer, not really feeling up to talking at the moment.

 

Esme frowned at me. “You look … _distressed_.”

 

I wanted to snort at her and say that her dear husband was the one who was making me distressed, but instead, I held my tongue. I knew her concerns for me were motherly, and smart-mouthing her wasn’t something I thought she deserved.

 

So, plastering a small smile on my face, I replied, “I’m fine, Esme. It’s not like a vampire can get sick, right?” I chuckled at my dry attempt at humor. “Otherwise I might have been feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of scrubbing hospital bedpans.”

 

She smiled at me, apparently satisfied to see my wit intact. “Oh no, Carlisle won’t make you do _that_. Will you, dear?” she addressed her last question to Carlisle.

 

He shook his head at me, a small smile playing on his lips. “Son, you know I won’t make you do something like that. You are a fully-qualified doctor. So you will be sharing a space in my office and helping me with diagnoses and maybe transcribing a few prescriptions?”

 

I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, “So I really won’t have to walk amongst the sick, bleeding and puking humans and act like I’m the male version of Florence Nightingale, or something like that?”

 

He chuckled at my question and said, “No, you won’t have to do that. One, because I really don’t think you’ll cut as admirable a figure as Miss Nightingale if you walk around the sick patients with a lamp in your hands; and two, because I know it’s against your baser instincts to be so close to human blood and not … uhh.” He stopped, thinking for a moment.

 

“Take a swig?” I offered helpfully.

 

Esme laughed hearing me and turned to face her husband. “I’m sure he will be a good boy, dear,” she said softly. “We’ve raised a good man.”

 

Her words made me look away, not really appreciating the feeling of guilt making its way to my gut. “I’ll … uh … I’ll go get my car,” I told no one in particular and hurried out of the door.

 

Just before stepping out of the room, I heard Carlisle sigh as he said to Esme, “I hope so.”

_Not on your life, Daddy dearest_ , I thought darkly as I closed the front door behind me.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

An hour into my first day at Forks’ Community Hospital and I found myself ready to gouge my eyes out just so I could get out of there.

 

All the smells of blood, antiseptic and what-not assault my senses. Plus, the inner ramblings of humans? Don’t even get me started on those. Everyone who’s breathing seemed to be in pain or thinking of pain or worrying that their loved ones could be in pain.

 

I was the unfortunate asshole who had to listen to them whine and groan about the shit-storm fate has thrown them into.

 

“What do you think?” Carlisle’s voice brought me out of my pity party, and I raised my eyes to see what he was talking about.

 

An x-ray plate.

 

I looked closely at the plate and then stated the obvious. “It’s a broken wrist, Carlisle. The kid might have slipped while playing and broken his wrist.”

 

“Hmm …” he looked at the thing thoughtfully before saying, “I think you’re right.”

 

His observation made me scoff. No matter how much I hated Carlisle Cullen, he was a great doctor—even I couldn’t deny the fact. _So why does he need me here?_

 

I didn’t realize that I had spoken the words out loud before he turned to look at me—a frown forming in between his eyes. “What?”

 

For just a fraction of a second, I considered shrugging it off and not telling him what I was thinking, but then I thought, _what the hell, it’s not like I’m afraid of what he thinks!_

 

So I straightened my shoulders and decided to call him out on his bullshit. “Why am I here, Carlisle?”

 

“I already told you, son, I need you to help me out …”

 

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “No, you don’t. You’re a vampire, Carlisle. So it’s not like you’re gonna get tired of brown-nosing your human patients and will need me to step in while you take a break.”

 

His eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words didn’t come out. He closed it and stayed quiet for a few moments. Then he sighed. “You’re right. I didn’t bring you here for me; I brought you here for _you_.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Now it was my turn to feel confused.

 

He sat down on his chair and closed his eyes, as if preparing himself to relive a bitter memory. When he finally started to talk, his voice was raspy and with a detectable note of sadness in it. “Edward, son, I know you think your soul was damned when you were turned.”

_I don’t_ think _so, I_ know _so_ , I thought bitterly. _You are the one who damned my soul._

 

As if he could hear my accusation, he looked up at me. “Your mother and I believe you’ve come very far from the troubled teen who had jumped from the window that night almost a century ago,” he said. “You just need to feel a little compassion.”

 

“Compassion?” I asked, feeling my eyebrow raise in sarcasm. “Are you kidding me? You’ve brought me here to make me feel compassionate? Toward humans?”

 

I was seriously starting to question his sanity when he answered me with a shake of his head. “You don’t get it yet. As an immortal, when you’ll see humans succumb to death, you’ll feel their pain and you’ll feel compassionate to help them.”

 

“As compassionate as you did when you turned me into a vampire?” The words came out of my mouth sounding like an accusation—exactly how I meant it.

 

He closed his eyes again. **_Son, I know you hold me responsible for this_** , he thought to me. **_And while I’ll confess to feeling selfish for turning you just to have someone to talk to, I will never regret saving you._**

 

I simply stood there, not wanting to go into _that_ argument again. Finally, I asked, “Now that I know why I’m here, can I leave?”

 

He opened his eyes to look at me. “You don’t feel like you can help people by being here? Saving lives can feel rewarding …”

 

“No,” I cut him off. “It doesn’t feel rewarding to me.”

 

My clipped answer made him purse his lips and then he nodded. “Very well then. Give me one week.”

 

“One week for what?”

 

“For changing the way you feel right now,” he replied slowly.

 

I scoffed inwardly at his simple-mindedness. _If I didn’t change in a century, I sure as hell am not gonna change in a week, old man._

 

“Fine, a week. That’s all you get.”

 

He held his hand to me to shake. “It’s a deal then.”

 

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

The sound of Bon Jovi crooning somewhere from my left woke me up. With my eyes firmly closed against the morning light, I reached over and felt around for my cell phone.

_Gotcha!_

 

“Hello?” I answered with my just-woke-up-but-still-too-sleepy raspy voice as I tried to open my eyes.

_“Sweetheart, did I wake you up?”_

 

The voice made my eyes open with a snap and I struggled to sit up on my bed. “Father? No, I mean … yes, you did, but it’s okay,” I was stuttering to get the words out while trying to stop my emotions from overpowering me. _I missed this man so much._

 

He laughed softly in my ear. “ _Angela said you called her yesterday._ ”

 

I felt guilt wash through me for not calling him and mumbled, “Yeah … I was gonna call you today …”

 

“ _It’s all right, sweetheart. I know you love Angie like your own sister, and as long as I know you’re doing good, I’m okay._ ”

 

“Thank you, Father,” I whispered. “It means a lot to me.”

 

“ _Isabella, my dear, please know that despite you not being my biological child, I love you just as much as I love my Angie,”_ his voice sounded deeper with emotions. _“I pray for you everyday. The home isn’t the same without you here._ ”

 

His words made my eyes sting with tears and I suppressed a sniffle as I responded. “I love you and Angie too, Father. Please tell everyone that I miss them.”

 

“ _I will, my dear._ ” After a short pause, he said, “ _I should let you go, sweetheart. You’ll want to start your first day with a smile on your face._ ”

 

Hearing him say the words he used to say to all of us when we were mere kids, did put a smile on my face. “Bye, Father.”

 

He murmured a goodbye before hanging up and leaving me smiling at my hands. _Maybe today will be a good one._

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

Half an hour after the phone call, I wasn’t feeling too optimistic about the day anymore. I had found out that the water-heater in the bathroom needed to be repaired, and I was too much of a coward to venture upstairs even in the morning light.

Still slightly shivering from my cold shower in the morning, I sat on my bed looking down at my array of breakfast selections:

 

A Hershey’s bar.

 

A Kellogg’s Strawberry Granola Bar.

 

A Kellogg’s Blueberry Granola Bar.

_My personal version of a Breakfast of Champions._

 

I was just leaning toward the Blueberry Bar when there was a knock on my front door. Leaving my breakfast on the bed, I walked to the door.

 

“Who is it?”

 

My question was answered by a cheery sounding Rachel Black. “Good morning, bestie.”

 

I cursed my luck and pasting a polite smile on my face, opened the door. “Hey, Rachel …”

 

Before I could even wish her a good morning, I was pulled into a smothering hug by my self-proclaimed _bestie_.

 

“Oh for God’s sake! Let the girl breathe, you crazy whacko!” A voice said from somewhere behind Rachel, and I looked up to find a girl near-about my age standing there.

 

She wasn’t overly beautiful, but her black hair and almost black eyes made her look pretty. There wasn’t any over-the-top enthusiasm on her face as she looked at me, but an understanding in her eyes made me feel like she was a good person.

 

Rachel let go of me to turn to face the new girl and said in an exasperated voice, “Lee, if you’re gonna act like a sour-puss I don’t know why I bothered to bring you with me.”

 

The girl scowled at Rachel and said back, “First, don’t call me Lee, Rachel. And second, you didn’t have to bring me.”

 

They both looked like they might go for a hair-pulling wrestling match, so I intervened. “Hi, I’m Isabella,” I said brightly to the other girl, holding my hand out to her.

 

“Figured,” she muttered, eyes still trained on Rachel. “I’m Leah, by the way. Leah Clearwater,” she added, turning her eyes to me.

 

“She’s my cousin,” Rachel interjected.

 

Leah rolled her eyes heavenward. “It’s such an honor to be so,” she muttered, making me let out a small laugh.

 

The corners of her mouth quirked upwards as she heard me laugh.

 

“Oh shush! We’re here to take you to breakfast, Isabella,” Rachel said, pushing Leah to the side and sliding in between the two of us. “Then we’ll give you a short tour of the town, yeah?”

 

“Oh! Thank you. That sounds like a plan,” I told her with a smile. _Maybe I was wrong to judge her so fast._

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

“You’re so lucky you don’t have to go to high school here,” Rachel told me as we made our way back to the house.

 

I looked at her in surprise. “You’re still in high school?”

 

She shook her head, laughing. “Oh God, no! I graduated a few years back. I was just saying, Forks’ High isn’t a place for the soft hearted, you know?”

 

“Why?”

 

It was Leah who answered me. “It’s filled with skanks who steal your boyfriend, and fucking assholes who don’t know how to keep it in their pants,” she said with a scowl on her face.

 

“Wha …?”

 

Rachel stopped me with a hand on my arm. “It’s just full of high school drama, you know?”

 

I had a feeling that she was trying to tell me to drop it, and judging by Leah’s still scowling face, I decided that it was the best course of action … for now.

 

“Hmm …” I nodded noncommittally. “So can I ask you guys something?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Do you know where I can find some work around here?”

 

Rachel’s eyebrows rose as she considered my question. “I thought Charlie and Reneé left you an inheritance?” Her words sounded like a question.

 

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. “That’s what Jenks said, but I don’t like living off any inheritance they might or might not have left me. I’m just looking for something temporary until I decide where I want to go to college, you know?”

 

Rachel stared at me for a moment and then started to say slowly, “I guess you can pick up a few shifts in the diner …”

 

But Leah cut her off. “Do you like books?”

 

Her question threw me off. “Of course. I love reading. Why do you ask?”

 

She smiled a little. “There’s a bookstore nearby. The lady who owns it is my mom’s friend. I think she might hire you.”

 

“Really? That’s great!” I told her, finally feeling hopeful of my day. “Thanks a lot, Leah.”

 

She shrugged and nudged my shoulder with hers. “I’ll take you to the bookstore tomorrow if you want?”

 

“Yes, please.”

 

Rachel gave me a slightly less-smothering hug before handing me the groceries she was kind enough to carry for me on our way back from the supermarket.

 

Wishing them good night, I walked inside my empty house, feeling better about my stay in the Town of Forks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So … thoughts?
> 
> Share them with me and leave a review!
> 
> I have bad news, guys. I have an exam in the upcoming week which means sadly, there will be no updates on next Friday.
> 
> However, you might get a little present from me on the 15th … that is if you read Over The Counter. ;)
> 
> And also, my MaytoDecemberRomance Contest piece is now posted on my profile. It’s titled Effortless. Give it a try and let me know what you think?
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: The Middle by Jimmy Eat World.
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	8. Chapter-7: A Hallucination?

** Chapter-7: A Hallucination? **

****

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

“You sure you want this?” Rachel whispered to me as we both watched Leah walk inside the store. “I can always hook you up at the diner.”

 

I frowned at her insistence. “What’s wrong with the bookstore?”

 

She stole a glance at the now slightly ajar door and said conspiratorially, “The lady who owns the place creeps the hell out of me. She used to offer us cookies whenever we’d visit the store. You know, like the witch from the story of Hansel and Gretel?”

 

I laughed at her over-dramatics. “Rachel, I’m sure she just wanted you to feel welcome in her store. She can’t be a witch.”

 

“How do you know? You haven’t met her yet. Besides, she used to offer cookies to the kids only.”

 

I stopped the snort building inside me from getting out, not wanting to hurt my new friend. Imagining a woman to be a witch simply because she gave cookies to her younger customers was something I could see only Rachel doing.

 

So I just shrugged and said, “Well, then we’ll see, won’t we?” With a wink at her, I added, “If I don’t get home tonight, you make sure to look into any ovens she might have around here, okay?”

 

Her face paled a little before she saw the smile on my face and hissed, “That’s not funny! Don’t joke about things like that.”

 

Laughing, I led the way into the store, knowing she would follow me despite her aversions to any woodland witches.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

The moment I stepped through the door to the bookstore, I knew—this is where I wanted to work. Instead of what Rachel predicted to be the cookie-wielding storeowner, what tied me to the place, were the books.

 

Every direction I looked at there were shelves filled with books, and don’t even get me started on the smell of the place! I never knew the smell of new books could be so overwhelmingly good.

 

As I took in a deep breath, trying to savor the smell, Rachel looked at me like I was mentally imbalanced. “Why are you sniffing?”

 

I gave her an incredulous look and asked back, “You don’t smell _that_?”

 

She sniffed cautiously and shook her head. “What am I supposed to smell?”

 

Grinning widely, I replied, “Books!”

 

She frowned. “All I can smell is dust,” she said grumpily.

 

I was about to tell her how amazing the smell of books can be when we heard a voice say from behind us, “It’s all about perspective, dear.”

 

We both jumped at the voice, making Leah laugh from behind us. As I turned my head to the side, I saw an elderly woman with graying-blonde hair in a bun atop her head with a smile on her face.

 

She gave me a nod before addressing Rachel. “Where you smell dusty old books, she smells the scent of new books and freshly printed covers. It’s all perspective, you see?”

 

Rachel pulled a face at her words and said with a pout clearly audible in her voice, “Fine. I guess I’m allergic to dusty volumes then.”

 

The woman laughed at her tone and then looked at me. “Hello, dear, I’m Amanda Goff. You must be Isabella.”

 

I nodded and held out my hand with a smile on my face. “Hi, Mrs. Goff. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

She patted the back of my hand and returned my smile. “It’s always nice to find young people who appreciate books,” she said with a glance thrown in Rachel’s direction, making Leah snicker.

 

Mrs. Goff clapped her hands together and asked happily, “Now you girls want some cookies before I take Isabella on a tour of the shop? They’re freshly baked.”

 

Her question made Rachel’s eyes go wide, and I couldn’t help but laugh quietly at the exuberant way Leah dragged her cousin to pursue Mrs. Goff’s cookies.

_She must know about her cousin’s lingering suspicion about Mrs. Goff’s intentions_ , I thought as I followed them.

 

Once we’d all had some of the yummiest chocolate chip cookies ever and Mrs. Goff had talked to me about my qualifications and salary, I found myself an employed girl.

 

“Thanks, Leah,” I said to my new friend as they prepared to leave the store. “You did me a great favor by bringing me here.”

 

She rolled her eyes at me but allowed the corners of her mouth to move up in a smile nonetheless. “As if you’d have starved without working,” she said softly. “I’m glad I could help you out. That’s what friends are supposed to do, right? And I think that we might end up being friends at some point.”

 

I smiled at her awkward way of hoping that we might become friends. “That sounds like a real possibility,” I added in a teasing voice.

 

With one more smile, she led Rachel out of the store, leaving me to do my new job.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

My first day at work turned out to be pretty slow. I made a few book sales and started making an inventory of the books to arrange them in a categorical way in the future, but other than that, I was free to look around the place.

 

The bookshop, which was on the ground floor of Mrs. Goff’s home looked very well-kept if not slightly mismatched with the book arrangements. The feeling of standing between shelves upon shelves of books made me feel alone … but not lonely.

 

It’s almost four in the afternoon when I got a call from an unknown number. Frowning at the caller ID, I answered the call. “Hello?”

 

“ _Is this Ms. Isabella Swan?_ ” a voice asked from the other end.

 

For a second, I debated saying that depended on who was asking, but decided that made me sound more like a mob-boss than a teen who’s slightly on edge from starting her life in a strange town.

 

So, clearing my throat, I replied, “Yes. Who is this?”

 

The voice sounded relieved when it spoke this time. “ _I’m Jake from the car rental services. I was told to come and pick your car …_ ”

 

“Oh! Of course,” I said immediately all the while silently cursing myself for forgetting about the car being due today. “When are you coming?”

 

“ _I’m actually in Forks right now. So if you want I can come over._ ”

 

I stole a glance at the clock hanging from the wall behind me to see that I still had an hour of work to go. “I’m at work right now. Can you wait until after five? I’ll be able to get home by five fifteen.”

 

His reply came a little hesitant as he said, “ _I need to get back to Seattle with the car so …_ ”

 

“Oh! Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen then. I’ll text you the address for picking up the car,” I told him, mentally thinking about how to convince Mrs. Goff to let me off an hour early on my very first day.

 

Jake sounded happy with the arrangement and after thanking me, he hung up.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

Surprisingly, Mrs. Goff was okay with letting me off early. She said that since it was a slow day, I could take off.

 

Just as I stepped out of the bookstore, something across the street caught my eyes. For a moment, I stood there, waiting to see if it was really there or not. When it didn’t appear again, I shook my head and started to make my way home. It must have been a trick of the light.

 

_Surely, the handsome stranger I found a few days ago in the middle of the road wouldn’t be here?_

 

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

I started day two of my deal with Carlisle very differently than the first. Instead of sulking all fucking day like I did on the first day, I smiled at people. I smiled widely … showing them my teeth.

 

Even though my teeth didn’t look anything like those of Count Dracula’s, they _were_ damn sharp, and call it instinct, but the sight of a vampire’s teeth seemed to put humans on edge.

 

I loved hearing them shudder inwardly at the sight.

 

The only exception was Jessica Stanley, a middle-aged nurse in the hospital. She didn’t seem scared by my glistening whites. No, instead, she started weaving fantasy porn scenes about me—which even to me, felt disturbing, not to mention disgusting as fuck when she gave me the mental image of going down on her.

_I’m not going anywhere near your cooch, you bleached blonde … or your fake tits for that matter._

 

I’ve never been a guy with the proverbial chastity belt around me, and I had fucked a few women in my rebel years, but the smell and taste of hot human blood felt more orgasmic to me than any chick blowing me. Besides, judging by the names I’ve heard roaming inside dear old Jess’s head, she might be the first woman to give a vampire gonorrhea.

_Nope, not even going near that._

 

“Edward, will you get in here? You could make yourself useful in here,” Carlisle’s voice broke through my repulsive musings about the cougar-nurse, and I gladly walked away from the station to be somewhere away from her thoughts.

 

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t gonna give Carlisle hell just a little bit. “By doing what?” I asked him in an irritated voice as I walked inside his examination room.

 

He gave me a look, warning me not to start anything in front of the humans inside, before smiling at the guy sitting there with a small boy cradled in his arms. “Please excuse my son, Mr. Robins. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

 

Like the cocky asshole I was aiming to be, I raised an eyebrow at my creator. “Did you just imply that you slept with me last night, Dad? That would be the only way for me to wake up on a side of my bed at all.”

 

Carlisle closed his eyes, probably praying the good Lord grant him enough self control to not lunge at my throat right now. When he opened his eyes, the good humored Dr. Cullen was back with all his charms. “So, Timmy, where does it hurt?” he asked the boy.

 

The little human whimpered when his father held his arm up to Carlisle to show the spot where he must have broken a bone. “Hurts,” he said in a whisper to his father, and the father hugged him tighter to his chest, whispering back how brave his little boy was.

 

Seeing the two of them there brought back memories from a time I’ve tried to forget.

 

Suddenly, I wasn’t the spoiled bratty adoptive vampire teenage boy of Carlisle Cullen. Instead I was Edward Masen, a little boy crying inconsolably, clutching his skinned knee after falling down from his first attempt at riding a bicycle with his father, Edward Masen Sr., kneeling beside him and wiping away the tear tracks as he promised to be right by his side when he felt up to riding again.

 

I hated this side of being a vampire—the side which meant your emotions get heightened.

 

Trying to escape the memories, I murmured about preparing the surgical tray for the plastering equipment, and moved away from the little kid and his father.

 

As I stood by the window, gathering up the equipment and half-heartedly nodding when the boy asked for a maroon-colored cast, my eyes strayed from my hands and looked out the window, and I felt my breath catch.

 

There, at the doorway of the dingy little bookstore across the street from the hospital, stood someone I never hoped to lay eyes on again. It was _her_ … the girl Alice was so sure of about being my mate.

 

With my improved sight as a vampire, I could make out every little detail of her even from the distance. She wore a simple white T-shirt with black jeans and had a jacket slung on her arm. Her hair wasn’t styled like I’ve seen girls do these days, no, she wore her hair in a ponytail, and a part of me wished I could tug on that ponytail as I kissed those naturally pink lips of hers.

_Shit! This is so fucked up, Masen, even for you,_ I chastised myself because I didn’t do romance or mates for that matter. This girl was messing with my head … _both_ of my heads.

 

She waved to someone inside the store and for a moment, I wondered if she had a boyfriend in there, but felt relieved when I saw the wrinkled-up lady who owned the store walk out to say goodbye to her.

 

I must have stood there longer than I expected because Carlisle chose that moment to ask me to hand him the surgical tray.

_Fucker had lousy timing._

 

After dropping the damned tray next to him, I made my way back to the window only to find the store entryway deserted now.

_Was she really there or did I just imagine her?_ I wondered. _Do vampires even have hallucinations? Maybe I was going nuts. Fuck! What do I do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Boy! He sure is in trouble, huh? ;)
> 
> Share your thoughts with me and leave a review.
> 
> ICYMI, I’ve started another fic. It has very short chapters and written with witfits. The biggest plus point? It updates DAILY (aside from Mondays). The story is titled DreamWeaver. Come over and say hello if you want. :D
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Hallucination by Ke$ha.
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> See you next week.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	9. Chapter-8: The Lion’s Roar

** Chapter-8: The Lion’s Roar **

****

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

When I got home from work, I saw a guy sitting on the front porch, fiddling with his cell phone.

 

“Hi, I’m sorry I forgot about this. I’m Isabella. You must be Jake?” I greeted him as I held a hand out to him.

 

He stood up and shook my hand before nodding. “Yes, ma’am. Jacob Black at your service,” he says, pointing to himself.

 

I felt my eyebrows pull upwards in a frown when I hear his name. “Black? You don’t happen to know a Rachel Black, do you?”

 

His face lit up as he nodded, making his long hair flop around his shoulders. “Yes, Rach is my baby sister.”

 

“Sister?” I repeated in shock. “You live here?”

 

“Nah! I live in Seattle. I’m learning how to fix cars at the rental service. I want to open my own garage one day.”

 

“Oh!” I dug through my pockets for the car keys and hand them over to him. He took them from me and grinned, making no motion of leaving.

 

We stood there in awkward silence. I knew that social convention dictates that I should have invited him for a cup of coffee or a soda, but the truth was that he was a stranger to me, even if he was Rachel’s brother. Besides, the hair was kind of putting me off of him.

 

After one minute and eight seconds (yeah, I counted in my head) of uncomfortable silence, he tried to pick up the conversation again. “So how are you liking Forks?”

 

I debated on whether saying that his hometown was too cold at times would offend him, and opted for a safer response. “It’s okay. It would’ve been nice to know at least one person though,” I said politely.

 

His eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “I thought you’ve met Rachel,” he said, sounding very much confused.

 

“Well yeah, I have, and she’s nice. I just meant …” I trailed away, not wanting to share my homesickness to a complete stranger.

 

The truth was, even though I had found a home in Forks, I missed the people I’ve grown up with. I tried to push away Angela’s face from my mind before the loneliness could get to me and shrugged. “I guess with time, I’ll make new friends.”

 

Jacob stopped frowning and smiled at me. “Well, if you need a friend, I’m available to fill in that position.”

 

I looked closely at the guy standing in front of me. He was dark-skinned like Rachel and had shoulder-length black hair. Although he seemed friendly enough—if not a little too over-familiar like his sister—he didn’t seem like the type of guys I’d be friends with.

 

Shrugging at his enquiring look, I said, “Yeah. Having friends will be … nice.”

 

His smile widened, showing me slightly yellowish teeth and making me cringe a little. Yellow teeth were one of my pet peeves. I cleared my throat and asked him, “So will you be leaving for Seattle soon?”

 

“Yeah,” he answered, holding up the car keys. “I was here to take this little beauty back. Nice choice of car, by the way.”

 

Together, we walked toward the spot where I parked the car, and he lets out a whistle. “Mustangs are the cream of the crop, eh?”

 

I raised an eyebrow at that and replied honestly, “I actually have no knowledge about cars, except for how to drive them. This one was picked by my lawyer.”

 

He shot me a surprised look before turning back to the car. “Jenks chose this? I have new-found respect for that ratty old bastard now.”

 

“What? You know him?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah, he’s a friend of my dad’s. This is a small town Isabella. Everything is open secret here.”

 

The way he said the last bit made me wonder if there was an open secret in particular that he was referring to.

 

However, before I could ask him, he slapped his hand twice on the hood and motioned to the side. There, I saw a yellow bike parked a little way away from the driveway. “Can you help me put my bike into the back?”

 

I wasn’t sure I could even lift that thing, but saying so made me feel like a weakling. So with a determined nod, I said, “Sure.”

 

He popped the back open and asked me to help him lift the bike. I gingerly laid a hand on the thing and tried to lift it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard to lift with him helping. We lifted it over our heads and went to put it inside the car. And that’s when it happened.

 

I felt my hand slip from the grip I had on the bike and then something hit the top of my head hard. Before I knew it, everything went black.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

“Isabella? Open your eyes, please,” a voice called from somewhere near my head. “Shit! Rach’s gonna kill me.”

 

I carefully opened my eyes to find Jacob Black kneeling next to where I was lying on the ground, looking like he might start crying at any moment. “I’m okay,” I tried to sound reassuring.

 

He looked relieved as he helped me sit up. “Oh thank God! I was going out of my mind thinking I killed you.”

 

I snorted, and slowly reached up to touch my temple. “I’m not an easy nut to crack.” When I brought my hand in front of my face, I saw blood in there. “Am I bleeding?”

 

Jacob’s eyes went wide as he took in my bloody hand. “Shit! We gotta take you to the hospital.”

 

I tried to wave it away, but the way my head ached made me give up quickly. _Maybe the hospital wasn’t such a bad idea._

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

I was beyond thrilled with my action plan because by the end of day-2, Carlisle Cullen looked ready to lose his shit.

 

I might have acted like an incompetent teenager as I carried the wash basin at one point of the day and dropped the contents puke and all on the good doctor’s head.

 

A grin stretched on my lips as I recalled the murderous look on his face when he felt the puke drip down his face.

_Priceless, Masen!_ I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for successfully ruffling his feathers.

 

I knew what was gonna happen at the end of this seven-day challenge, and so did Carlisle. I was going to leave the Cullen Family again, and this time, I was gonna go for good. I had had enough of his high-and-mighty ways, and frankly, I was getting tired of acting like I belonged here.

_I’ve never belonged …_

 

Amidst my thoughts I found myself back at the window, staring out at the shabby old bookstore. I could’ve sworn she was there. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw I had an incoming text message from my “all-knowing” sister.

****

**_It’s just a matter of time, big brother. Tick tock._ **

_What the fuck …?_

 

I started dialing her number to give her a piece of my very frustrated mind when the in-house paging system went off.

**Dr. Carlisle Cullen, your presence is requested in the ER. Please report to the ER.**

 

Carlisle looked up at me from where he was writing notes on a patient file. “Edward, can you please go down to the ER and let them know that I’m on my way?”

 

“You know that you can simply call them and tell that yourself, right?”

 

He sighed at my response and looked at me.

****

**_Son, I know you hate this, but this can be something really good for you. Believe me,_** he thought to me.

 

I couldn’t resist the urge to roll my eyes. _As if he cared about what was good for me!_

 

His eyes softened as he said out loud, “You are a qualified doctor, Edward. So I need you to get down there to assess the situation while I finish up in here.”

 

For a moment, I wanted to say no to his face, but like the sucker I am, I agreed. _Only because he said I’m qualified_ , I reasoned with myself as I made my way to the ER.

 

I stopped at the entrance and took a deep breath before launching myself in the room filled with the smell of blood, and that’s the moment when I smelled the one thing that had called to me more intensely than blood in my lifetime … _her_.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

Standing in the doorway, I saw Nurse Jackie, the ER nurse fuss over a bed where I assumed _she_ was lying.

 

What caught me off guard was the guy standing next to her bed. He was tall, dark and definitely _not_ handsome.

_Who the fuck is that?_

 

I tried to read his thoughts and they left me speechless.

****

**_Fuck! What a mess! Dad’s gonna kick my ass for hurting her. Maybe I should go back without going home. Yeah, that might give him time to cool off_** , I heard him thinking.

_He hurt her? How dare he!_

 

Anger I didn’t think I could feel for a stranger coursed through me, making me want to yank on that asshole’s stupid hair and rip his head off for laying a finger on her.

 

Slowly, I walked into the room, catching the nurse’s eyes as I did.

 

She quickly came to me and said in a hushed voice, “Edward, dear, there’s a girl who might have a concussion. Is Dr. Cullen coming?”

 

“Yeah, he’s on his way,” I responded, never taking my eyes off the fucktard standing beside her.

 

I looked at Nurse Jackie and asked, “What happened? Is he an attendant?” I jerked my thumb in his direction to let her know who I was talking about.

 

She nodded, her lips pressing in a disapproving line. “He says he’s her friend.”

 

“Hmm …” I felt better that he was just her friend and there wasn’t a “boy” somewhere in there. “Can you ask him to come over here? I need to talk to him to know what happened. Dad thinks it’ll help me learn,” I requested her sweetly, throwing one of my charming smiles on her way for good measure.

 

“You’re going to become a great doctor, honey,” she said, patting my cheek in a motherly way before walking back to her patient.

 

I watched her talk to them for a moment. She pointed toward me, and soon I saw the asshole walk up to where I stood waiting.

 

“Hey, I’m Jacob,” he said, running a hand over his face.

 

Watching his every move, I asked quietly, “What happened to her?”

 

He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “We were lifting my bike inside a car when her grip slipped and the bike hit her on the head. I saw blood and thought I’d bring her here to get looked at.”

 

I narrowed my eyes at him and concentrated on his thoughts instead of the words coming out of his mouth. **_If the wind hadn’t blown my hair in my eyes, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now._**

 

Hearing him think of the real reason, I felt a murderous rage take hold of me, and before I could think of what I was doing, I had grabbed his collars, and was dragging him out of the ER.

 

I pressed his back against the ER wall and got into his face. His eyes were wide with shock of what was happening. His fear fueled my anger, and I gave him a slow smile, showing him my teeth.

 

A shudder ran through him, and I looked right into his eyes so that whenever he thought of coming anywhere near her, he would remember me.

 

“You had her lift your bike? That was a bad move, you asswipe,” I told him through gritted teeth. “You’re blaming it on her while your fucked up hair is the reason she’s hurt? Now that’s pure cowardice.”

 

If it was even possible, his eyes widened even more when I addressed what I heard in his thoughts. I tightened my hand on his collar, making the rough fabric of his shirt dig into his skin.

 

It would be so easy to sink my teeth into his neck. Ripping his head off and ending his miserable excuse for life was too easy for me. However, I didn’t want to create a scene so close to where she was.

 

So I simply leaned in close and spoke in my most threatening voice. “If you ever even think of hurting her ever again, I’m gonna rip each and every hair on your head one by one until there’s nothing but barren land left in there. Do I make myself clear?”

 

Looking like he’s about to pass out, he nodded his head frantically.

 

“Now, you’re gonna go up there, apologize for acting like a fucked-up weasel and leave,” I said each other slow enough to drill them into his head.

 

“Y … yes,” he sort of squeaked out at me.

 

I gave his shirt one last jerk, making his dumbass head knock on the wall before letting him go.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

From the doorway, I watched the asshole talk to her before making a mad dash for the corridor, looking back every once in a while.

_That ought to keep that mutt away from her,_ I thought with relief.

 

“Edward, why are you still here? I thought you’d have gotten the whole history by now.” Carlisle’s surprised voice made me drag my eyes away from the girl lying on the hospital bed.

 

“She was hit on the head with a bike while lifting it to put it inside a car,” I said in a monotone. “There was bleeding, and she might have a concussion.”

 

“Good work, son,” he said with a pat on my back, apparently pleased with my interest in helping the patient.

 

As I watched him walk into the ER, I made up my mind. _I wasn’t going to let this go. I_ need _to know her history … I need to know her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Someone’s feathers are ruffled alright. ;)
> 
> Share your thoughts with me and leave a review.
> 
> Check out the new dream in my witfit fic, DreamWeaver. :D
> 
> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Holier Than Thou by Metallica.
> 
> See you next week.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	10. Chapter-9: Not A Magical World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn’t belong to me, but this crazy VampWard is all mine. ;)
> 
> A/N: All your reviews have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.
> 
> Big smooches for DataByteDL-FangirlinGranma for loving me so much. Your support means the world to me, Granma.
> 
> Shall we see what’s going on in Bella’s mind now?

** Chapter-9: Not A Magical World **

****

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

“Isabella, I’m sorry for acting like a fucked-up weasel. I shouldn’t have asked you to lift the bike,” Jacob said to me in one breath, and then walked away.

 

I watched open-mouthed as he almost ran out of the ER, leaving me alone. I didn’t mind taking care of myself since that’s how I had grown up, but it still weirded me out seeing him run away like that.

 

I knew he wasn’t chivalrous or anything after he asked me to help him lift his bike. However, this was a real low.

 

The nurse attending to me took my arm with soft hands. “I’m just going to take your pulse and measure your blood pressure before the doctor comes in. It’s just routine work,” she told me reassuringly.

 

I frowned at the door once more before turning my eyes back on her. “Is this going to take long?” I asked, not feeling too comfortable in a hospital.

 

She raised her eyes from her hands and gave me a searching look, making me smile sheepishly at her. “I’m not a big fan of hospitals,” I explained.

 

Her nod was filled with understanding as she pulled the blood-pressure cuff around my arm. “That’s not too uncommon, dear,” she said. “Dr. Cullen will be here shortly, I’m sure. He already sent Edward, his son, over here to check up on you.”

 

“His son?” I was confused. “He’s a doctor as well?”

 

A soft, motherly smile lit up her face as she shook her head. “No, Edward is taking a year off before going to college. So he’s working here as a trainee to learn as much as he can before going off. He’s gonna be a great doctor one day.”

 

“Oh! Cool,” I responded, not sure what to do with that information.

 

She blushed a little at my less than enthusiastic response. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m babbling. I’m just trying to prepare you for him.”

 

“Prepare me?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Why? Is he like royalty?”

 

She laughed at that. “No. He just rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but deep inside, he’s a good kid.”

 

I nodded with a non-committal look.

 

“It’s strange though …” she started again. “He was here just now, talking to your friend. Where did he go?”

 

“He talked to Jacob?” I asked sharply. “About what?”

 

“Nothing to worry about, dear. It’s not uncommon to take patient history from the attendants as well as the patient herself. I’m sure he was trying to find out how you got hurt.”

 

I chewed on my lip as I muttered in an embarrassed tone, “I was lifting a bike and lost my grip. There was just a little blood, nothing to worry about.”

 

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, but we still need to take a look.” The sound of a new voice made me look up from my hands, and I saw a kind-faced man standing next to my bed.

 

His name-tag read, “Dr. Carlisle Cullen.”

 

He was blonde with blue eyes, and looked way too young to have a son waiting to get into college. He smiled at me when he saw me looking up at him. “Hello, Ms. Swan,” he greeted me while looking at the chart the nurse handed to him. “I’m Dr. Cullen. I see your vitals look good.”

 

“Great! So I can go home now,” I said with a smile as I tried to sit up.

 

Dr. Cullen quickly pushed me back on the bed and shook his head in a silent vexation. “Not quite yet. We’ll need to x-ray your head just to check if you have any injuries before I can discharge you.”

 

I slumped back on the bed, hoping to get this over with.

_I really didn’t like hospitals._

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

Fifty minutes later, Dr. Cullen appeared back at my bedside. “Alright, Ms. Swan, I have good news and I have bad news.”

 

“It’s Isabella,” I corrected him before gesturing him to continue.

 

“Well, Isabella, the good news is that you don’t have any internal bleeding so you should consider yourself lucky.”

 

“Thank you …”

 

“However,” he said, cutting me off. “You do have a mild concussion. Resting up and Tylenol should take care of it.”

 

I sat up on the bed and nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Cullen. I can go home now, can’t I?”

 

He looked up from the papers he had in his hands and asked me, “Do you have someone to take care of you there?”

 

“No, I live alone. My house isn’t that far away. I can walk back there just fine.”

 

He started shaking his head at that. “Then no, you can’t go home now.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I wouldn’t advise you to walk home tonight, and you might experience some nausea or dizziness from the concussion. So I think you should stay here where there will be someone to look after you in case you feel ill during the night.”

 

For a moment, I debated calling up Rachel or Leah and asking them to come take me home so he’d see I have someone to look after me, but then thought better of it.

 

Even though I’d grown up in a group home, I was never alone when I got sick as a child. Angela or Father Webber would be with me the whole time.

 

With a sigh, I gave up. “Fine, but I’ll be discharged tomorrow morning?” I asked, needing the clarification.

 

“Of course. After I check up on you in the morning, you can go,” he said with a smile.

 

I watched with dismay as the doctor walked out of the ER, leaving me to lie down and try to sleep off the exhaustion.

_Sounds fun, right? NOT!_

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

“Edward, will you calm down?” Alice’s voice sounded exasperated over the phone. “You’re freaking out for nothing.”

 

“Tell me the truth, Alice. Will that fucktard ever hurt her again?” I repeated my question, making my sister huff.

 

“You don’t even know her name yet, and there might be hundreds of Jacobs on the West Coast. I don’t know what he looks like. How am I supposed to know if he’ll even come near her again?”

 

“Because you’re the psychic,” I spat at her. “I can easily pick up her name from her patient file.” I thought for a second before adding, “Jacob looks like an asshole with long hair.”

 

There was a snort from the other end of the phone. “Great mental image, brother. Now I’m thinking of him as a hairy asshole … the kind which one finds at the rear end of one’s body.”

 

Her words made me chuckle because that pretty much summed up that fucker for me. “You’re close, Alice. Can you please try at least?”

 

She was silent for a long while before saying, “I can’t see her with any long-haired guy in the near future.”

 

I let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, little sister.”

 

She giggled at my name-calling and bade me goodbye. Just before hanging up, she said, “Edward?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Don’t find out her name from a file, big brother. Ask her.”

 

Then she hung up, leaving me wondering if I could do that. Talking to her without scaring her?

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

About an hour later, I looked up from the journal I was reading when I heard a knock on the door.

 

Carlisle stood there with a frown on his face. “I thought you had left already.”

 

I held up the journal for him to see and said, “I was reading.” Then just to piss him off, I lifted my feet from the floor and rested them on his desk, leaning back to get more comfy in his seat. “You have a very cozy office.”

 

With satisfaction, I noticed his frown deepen for a moment as his eyes flick toward my feet before he straightened his face. “Which issue is it?”

 

I checked the front of Science Domain and replied, “Last month’s. There’s an article about lyophilized injectables for anticancer treatment. It’s good.”

 

He sounded satisfied with my answer when he spoke. “Yeah, that’s a good one. I’m heading home now. Do you want to come with me?”

 

I shook my head and patted the journal in my hands. “I wanna finish this tonight. Besides, your office is quieter than home at night.”

 

“Emmett and Rosalie?” he asked, sounding embarrassed on behalf of them.

 

“Yep,” I answered. “They’re not very _subtle_ at night.”

 

He grinned at me. “No, I guess they’re not.” Walking inside the room, he took his coat from the rack and gave me one last look. “You’ll be okay here alone?”

 

In his mind, I could hear the doubts. **_I hope you don’t lose your grasp on yourself tonight, son. I don’t want you to regret your actions._**

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine … as will your patients,” I answered.

_Fuck! I really do hope I don’t regret what I’m going to do tonight._

 

 

 

** BPOV **

 

 

 

Raising my head from the pillow, I looked around my curtained bed.

_Nope, there isn’t anyone here._

 

Flopping my head back down, I willed sleep to come. But a nagging feeling in the back of my mind kept me up. Something didn’t feel right. It felt like I was being watched.

_What the hell is wrong with this place?_

 

I pulled my phone out from underneath my pillow and looked at the time.

 

12:10 A.M.

 

It was past midnight and sleep was still a no-show. _Yeah, I’m gonna look like a zombie on my official first day at work._

 

I closed my eyes once more and started counting backwards—the way Angela swore she could fall asleep any time of the day.

_100 … 99 … 98 .… 97 … 96 … 95 … 94 … 93 … 92 …_

 

Before I could get to 91, I heard a sound from behind me.

 

My situation reminded me of another one where someone was lying awake in a hospital bed at night and got a night-visitor. _Whoa! Maybe a house-elf is gonna pop in here to tell me that I’m in Harry Potter world,_ I thought with a giggle.

 

I guessed the pain-meds Nurse Jackie gave me before leaving were making me a little loopy. I let my mind wander to what Dobby would say to me if it was a magical world like Harry Potter’s.

 

And then I heard the sound again.

 

A sound of a sigh … a sound of a breath passing though lips.

 

With a gasp, I turned around, and found my eyes locked on a pair of green eyes, the most vibrant shade of green I’d ever seen—the eyes of my Handsome Stranger.

 

He looked startled when he saw me looking at him and then started to move away from my bed. I had no idea what possessed me to do it, but I reached out to clasp his hand in mine before he could run away again.

 

His hand was still cold tonight. _Maybe he’s one of those people whose hands get cold when they’re nervous,_ I thought to myself.

 

“You’re not Dobby!”

 

My sudden remark made him scrunch up his eyebrows in a very cute way as he asked, “Dobby?”

 

A giggle left me as I nodded. “Yes, like in Harry Potter. Although you do seem to appear magically in front of me at times.”

 

He didn’t speak. Instead, he turned to go away from me.

 

I tightened my grip on his wrist and asked, “Why are you always running away from me?”

 

His head snapped back to look at me with wide eyes. He was silent for a moment before murmuring, “I’m not running away from you, I’m running away from my own idiocy. Believe me, there’s _nothing_ magical about me.”

 

“Why, aren’t you a glass half full?” I remarked and sat up, tugging on his hand to make him sit beside me.

 

When he didn’t move an inch, I gave him a stern look. “You sneak around and watch me sleep in a very uncomfortable hospital bed, but now you don’t want to sit with me?”

 

He closed his eyes, looking defeated. “It’s not a question of want, believe me.”

 

“I think I do,” I replied honestly. “I mean you’re clearly not Dobby, and maybe there’s nothing magical about our world, but I think I do believe you.”

 

Intense eyes locked on mine, looking … searching for something. “You’re different from anyone I’ve ever met.”

 

“That’s because I’m unique, silly!” I said, bumping my shoulder with his. “I’m Isabella, by the way. We didn’t get to talk the last time we met.”

 

“You’re more unique than you can imagine,” he whispered softly. “I’m Edward.”

 

I recognized his name and said with a smile, “So you’re the great future Dr. Cullen?”

 

He chuckled. “You could say that,” he told me with a teasing glint in his eyes.

 

Keeping the smile firmly in place, I asked the question I had been itching to ask him since the moment I saw him tonight. “Wanna tell me what you were doing beside my bed now?”

 

He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it once more.

_This had better be good!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Any guesses on what he might say?
> 
> Share your thoughts with me and leave a review.
> 
> The “Dobby” bit was a nod to all my Twi-hard friends who are Potterheads as well, just like moi. ;)
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Fireflies by Owl City.
> 
> DreamWeaver will update shortly. Check it out if you want?
> 
> Thank you for reading.
> 
> See you next week.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	11. Chapter-10: Peek-A-Book

** Chapter-10: Peek-A-Book **

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

“Wanna tell me what you were doing beside my bed now?” Her question made my eyes widen.

_Fuck! And here I thought humans don’t catch much._

 

I opened my mouth but couldn’t seem to find an appropriate response. So I closed it. She narrowed her eyes at me, and I opened my mouth once more. “Not really,” I responded finally.

 

She stayed silent for a heartbeat before giving me an incredulous look. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

 

I shrugged, suddenly finding her flushed cheeks very amusing. “Pretty much.”

 

A rebellious look appeared on her face and her eyes narrowed as she opened her mouth again. “Why are you like this?”

 

“Like what?” I asked back, tilting my head to the side and making another futile attempt at reading her thoughts.

 

“You act so mysterious,” she answered with a shake of her head before raising a hand to place on the side of it. “Wow. That probably wasn’t such a good idea. So no more head shakes,” she muttered in a low voice.

 

The thought of her being in pain made me want to help her which was a first for me. I mean, come on! I was Edward fucking Masen. I didn’t care for puny humans. That’s not who I was.

 

A small voice in the back of my head told me that maybe I didn’t know who I really was. _But that’s ridiculous, right?_

 

I moved to stand up from her bed and said, “Listen, you’re not feeling well. So you should rest …”

 

“No!” she exclaimed and grabbed my hand in her warm one again. “I want to talk to you.”

_Seriously, doesn’t she have any self-preservation instincts?_ I wondered again. _I’m her predator for fuck’s sake! She’s supposed to be repulsed by me, not intrigued by me!_

 

“About what?” I asked curtly. “I’m not a very interesting person to talk to.” _Yeah, that’s a lie. I’m a de-fucking-light to talk to … if you like the sarcastic asshole types, of course,_ I added mentally.

 

The corners of her lips turned upwards as she let out a giggle. “On the contrary, Mr. Cullen, I find you very intriguing.”

 

I flinched when she called me “Cullen”, and unlike every other human being, she caught onto it. She squeezed my wrist, which was still held in her hand, and asked in a soft voice, “You prefer being called just Edward?”

_How …?_

 

Shocked by the perceptiveness of this seemingly ordinary girl, I nodded.

 

She smiled at me. “Alright then, Edward. As I was saying, you intrigue me.”

 

I raised an eyebrow at her in silent question which made her laugh softly. “You’re like a mysterious stranger whom I find at every corner that might be dangerous for me,” she said before widening her eyes at me. “Hey, you’re not my guardian angel, are you?”

 

“No, I’m not,” I replied sharply before standing up and moving swiftly out of her grasping hands. “I’m anything _but_ your guardian angel, Isabella.”

 

Before she could say anything else, I got out of there, leaving her alone.

 

If I was being honest with myself, this girl was making me _want_ to be a guardian angel—just for her.

_No_ , I thought to myself. _All I’m ever gonna be is her worst nightmare. A soulless monster can never be a guardian angel. Never._

****

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

Waking up the next morning, I tried to remember what happened the night before. I remembered thinking that Dobby was coming to see me at the hospital, but then he turned out to be …

 

I gasped, remembering the first real conversation I’d had with my Mysterious yet Handsome Stranger—Edward Cullen, who preferred being called just Edward.

 

Our conversation from last night and his subsequent escape from me rushed back to me.

_He’s always running away from me,_ I thought again.

 

I was brought out of my very jumbled and confused thoughts by the sound of the curtain around my bed being pulled back.

 

“Ah, Isabella, I see that you’re already awake.”

 

Looking up, I saw Dr. Cullen standing next to my bed with a smile on his face. I quickly allowed my eyes to glance over his shoulder, somehow hoping to see his son there with him. But the spot behind him was empty.

 

He looked behind and asked curiously, “Are you looking for someone? An attendant perhaps?”

 

I shook my head and noted with satisfaction that the headache was gone. Sitting up on the hospital bed, I replied, “No. As I told you already I live alone. So no attendant for me.”

 

He took in my smile and smiled back. “Well, as it turns out, you don’t need one anymore,” he said, flipping through the stack of papers in his hands. “Your chart looks good.”

 

“So I can leave now?” I couldn’t help but ask eagerly.

 

Chuckling, he nodded. “Yes, you can.”

 

“I’m sorry. It’s just … well, I start a new job today so …” I explained.

 

He signed some papers and tapped his pen closed. “Good luck with your new job then. There’s some paperwork for you’ll need to sign, but after that, you’re free to leave.”

 

“Thanks,” I said with a smile.

 

As I started to gather up my stuff, I felt a small pang of regret that I wouldn’t be able to see Edward again. But then, a small voice in my head whispered that we’ll meet again … we always seemed to end up meeting anyway.

 

 

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

After grabbing a quick breakfast of a muffin and coffee from the hospital cafeteria, I walked across the street to get to the bookstore.

 

“Isabella, dear, you’re right on time,” Mrs. Goff greeted me as soon as I walked into the shop. However, when she looked at me closely, she frowned. “Are you okay, dear?”

 

“Good morning, Mrs. Goff. Yes, I’m okay. Why shouldn’t I be?”

 

She gestured at my clothes with her hand. “You didn’t go home last night? Or …”

 

I grimaced when I remembered that I was wearing the same things from the day before. Then I realized what she must have meant by the “or” and I felt my cheeks heat up. _She doesn’t think that I hooked up with anyone and am essentially doing the walk of shame now, does she?_

 

“I actually spent the night at the hospital,” I mumbled. “I got hurt when I got home.” When her eyes widened, I added, “I’m fine now though. Really.”

 

“Oh, poor dear! Do you need to take the day off?” she asked kindly.

 

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’m feeling better.”

 

She led me inside the store by the elbow and made me sit down. “Well, if you’re sure,” she said with a caring smile. “But at least eat a cookie. Mr. Goff says my cookies can get rid of his headaches just like that.” She snapped her fingers, making me laugh.

_Cookies actually sounded good._

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

It was almost the time for my lunch break when I heard the doorbell chime, indicating someone walking into the store.

 

However, when I looked at the door, I found it closed, and the doorway was empty. _What the hell was that?_ I wondered, having clearly heard the bell chime.

 

“Mrs. Goff?” I called out, but no answer came.

 

Cautiously, I got out from behind the counter and headed for the rows of bookshelves.

 

“Hello?” I called again, but again, only silence greeted me.

 

I started to make my way to the back of the store, walking as soundlessly as I could.

 

When I reached the bookshelves at the back, I gasped. A pair of eyes was looking at me from behind the shelf facing me.

 

A pair of vibrant green eyes.

 

“Edward?”

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

I closed my eyes when she called my name and cursed my lack of self control. _Why the fuck did I come here?_

 

Opening my eyes, I saw her deep brown ones stare at me. “Hey,” I said, feeling beyond lame.

 

A startled laughter escaped her lips before she said, “Let me guess, you’re here to play peek-a-boo?”

 

Her playfulness made my lips turn upwards, and I nodded. “You could say that.”

 

“Wait up,” she said before disappearing from my line of sight. I heard footsteps and then she was beside me. “Hello again. You’re not working today?”

 

I shook my head. “I’m on my lunch break. When I got to the hospital, you had left.”

 

“I had been discharged,” she corrected me. “There’s a difference.”

 

“Really?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

 

“Uh-huh,” she responded. “I would’ve left last night if I could leave. Your dad made me stay the night.”

 

“Forced medical help?” I exclaimed dramatically. “What’s the world coming to, huh?”

 

A light blush colored her cheeks as she murmured, “I can’t say that I wouldn’t have regretted it if I’d left last night though.”

 

“What?”

 

My question made her look up into my eyes, and she smiled mischievously. “But then again, we seem to be running into each other quite often anyway.”

_Does she mean that she’d have regretted leaving because she thinks we wouldn’t have met then?_

 

“So … uh, what are you doing here?”

 

Her voice stopped my train of thought, and I shrugged. “I wanted to check out a book.”

 

“Cool. Which one?” she asked eagerly.

 

I grabbed a random book from the shelf behind me and held it out to her. “This one.”

 

“Really?” The teasing glint became more pronounced in her eyes as she dragged the question out. “You don’t seem like the type to enjoy that.”

 

“What …?” Feeling confused, I looked at the title of the book and then wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole.

_Erotic Novels for Women? Really, Masen?_

 

She giggled and tapped a finger on the book cover. “This one’s for women, you know?” she asked with a wink.

 

Thanking the fact that I had lost my ability to blush with my humanity, I pushed the book back into the shelf. “I … uh … yeah,” I tried to find a smart-ass comeback before arching an eyebrow at her and saying, “You know what they say, never judge a book by its cover. Besides, I hear that this stuff is very enjoyable to share with a partner.”

 

She let out an audible gasp before looking down at her feet, her cheeks looking flushed once again.

_Fuck! I wish I could feel the heat of her cheeks when she blushed like this!_

 

“I didn’t realize that you have a partner to share it with,” she said after a moment of silence.

 

Immediately, I knew that I had given her the wrong idea, and for some fucked up reason, I really didn’t like that. “I don’t. I just heard my brother say that,” I replied, remembering how I had _heard_ Emmett thinking about wanting to play out some disgusting sex scenes from a book with Rosalie.

 

“Oh!” She looked up at me then. “Can I ask you something?” she asked.

 

With a smirk, I replied, “You just did.”

 

She shook her head at me and asked, “Did you really come here for a book?”

 

I knew that the rational thing to do would’ve been to say that yes, I was interested in buying some medical books or something equally believable, but instead, I said, “No.”

 

“Then why are you here, Edward?” her eyes looked into mine as she asked in a low whisper.

 

“Because you work here,” I replied.

 

A small frown appeared on her forehead. “How do you know that?”

 

“I saw you through the hospital window.” By this point, I wasn’t even trying to think of a lie to tell her, and all I was saying was the truth.

 

“Oh!” She looked surprised by my answer. “But why …?”

 

Before she could finish her question, I let out a resigned sigh. “Because I can’t seem to keep away from you.”

 

“Who said you have to?” her voice was sharp when she asked.

 

“It’s the right thing to do,” I told her.

 

“Maybe I don’t want to do the right thing,” she murmured.

_Fuck! Is she for real?_

 

“Do you like Italian?” I asked, already knowing that this was a bad idea.

 

Frowning, she nodded.

 

“Then I’ll take you out to Port Angeles tonight.” My words didn’t sound like a question, but rather a statement.

 

Raising an eyebrow she said, “That’s not the way it works, Edward. You have to _ask_ me.”

 

Not believing that I was actually doing this, I did as she asked. “Would you like to go to Port Angeles with me tonight, Isabella?”

 

She remained silent for a long second before a smile started to make its way on her lips. “Yes, please. You can pick me up from my home if you want.”

 

Unbeknownst to me, a smile stretched on my lips as well.

 

I was going on a date after a hundred and fourteen years … my first date ever.

_Fuck! What am I doing?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So … thoughts? Share them with me and leave a review.
> 
> Thank you for reading.
> 
> If you want some light-hearted fic that makes you smile after reading this seriousness, you can check out my other WIP, DreamWeaver. It’s funny, it’s fluffy and it updates daily. :D
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Escape by Enrique Iglesias.
> 
> On a sad note, I’m going on a work trip later in the next week. So there’s a very big possibility that there won’t be any update next Friday. But do check in on next Saturday because who knows? Maybe VampWard would like to say hi to you?
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	12. Chapter-11: Ready or Not

** Chapter-11: Ready or Not **

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

After my disastrous attempt at staying away from Isabella, I walked back to the hospital to finish working my shift, still wondering what the fuck possessed me to ask her out.

_Is it possible for a vampire to be in shock?_ I didn’t know the answer to my question, but from what I was feeling, I guessed that was a moot point anyway.

 

As I was walking by the front desk, Nurse Jackie called my name. “Edward, dear!”

 

“Hey, Jackie.” I gave her a half-hearted smile back. “What is it?”

 

“It’s a ‘who’, dear,” she said with a bright smile. “There’s someone to see you.”

 

Immediately, I started to wonder how on earth could’ve Isabella come here to see me here so soon. I just left her at the bookstore. That’s when I heard Jackie’s thoughts.

****

**_She was right. He’s going to be surprised to see her here_** , she thought, her words in no way reflecting malice.

 

I cleared my throat and started to ask her, “Uh … Jackie, who …?”

 

“Hey there, big brother.”

 

I closed my eyes at the sound of the annoyingly smug voice and suppressed a growl. “Alice.”

 

She stood up from her perch on one of the chairs in the waiting area and smiled widely at me. “Who else will it be? I was just missing my dear brother.”

****

**_Oh how sweet these kids are! Dr. Cullen really has an adorable family._ **

 

I almost scoffed out loud when I heard the unsuspecting nurse’s adoration for our _family_.

_Poor Jackie. You have no clue just how_ adorable _we can be when we sink our teeth into peoples’ necks._

 

Alice walked forward to pull me into a hug.

****

**_How did your stalking go, brother?_** she thought to me as she tried to squeeze me with all her vampiric strength.

 

“Little sister, how I’ve missed you! It’s good to see you here,” I said for Jackie’s benefit with a smile as fake as Jessica Stanley’s silicon tits.

 

Looking at my watch, I saw that I still had a little over fifteen minutes left of my lunch break. So, I took Alice’s elbow and started to steer her away from the prying ears. “I think I can spare a few minutes for my favorite sister. Have you had your lunch yet?”

 

She smirked at my words and said back, “Nope, I haven’t yet, and by the looks of it, neither have you.”

****

**_I’m glad you didn’t have her for lunch, by the way_** , she added silently.

 

I ignored her ridiculous thoughts and hauled her toward the cafeteria.

 

After setting a useless yet necessary plate of food down in front of her, I glared at her. “What are you doing here, Alice?”

 

She shrugged and grabbed a fry from her plate before waggling it in front of my face. “You seemed like you could use some help.”

 

“From you? No, thanks,” I replied. “I’m trudging through this ridiculous idea of working at the hospital just fine—thanks for that by the way. But it’s already my third day here, and I think I can manage the rest of the week.”

 

Her grin widened. “Who’s talking about the seven-day working thing you’ve got with Carlisle? I’m talking about your _date_ , brother.”

_“_ Fuck! It sucks to have a nosy bitch for a sister,” I murmured loud enough for her to hear.

 

She raised an eyebrow in question and asked, “Are you saying you don’t need my help?”

 

“That is exactly what I’m saying,” I replied. “You can go back home to being daddy’s perfect little angel.”

 

The haughtiness was very much discernible in her voice as she snapped back, “I am a perfect little angel. And you, my clueless brother, need someone to guide you. It is after all, your first date in … well, ever.”

 

“You’re an angel to those who doesn’t know you,” I told her before narrowing my eyes at her. “How do you know anything about my dating history?”

 

She shrugged. “It’s not hard to guess. You were the poster-child of ‘good boy’ when you were a human.” I opened my mouth to interrupt her, but she carried on, shutting me up. “Don’t even try to deny it. I’ve seen how you interact with Esme. Jasper has sensed countless of times that she reminds you of your mother. So really, how can a guy respect his mother like that and not be a ‘good boy’ growing up?”

 

I let out a loud sigh, not really knowing how to contradict a delusional mind like hers.

 

She gave me a sad smile before continuing, “After you turned, you have been so consumed with bloodlust that I doubt you’ve ever thought of dating a girl.”

 

I gave up any attempts at trying to prove otherwise and slumped back in my chair. “I still don’t need your help, Alice,” I mumbled. “I can just ask Emmett or Jasper for advice.”

 

She looked at me like I had just suggested buying a tutu and starting taking ballet lessons. “Are you serious?” she almost hissed. “You think Emmett will keep quiet about you dating a human? Or do you think he’s got a romantic bone in his body?”

 

“Point taken,” I agreed. “Jasper then?”

 

“Oh no!” she replied with a quick shake of her head. “He’s the sweetest man on this planet, believe me. But he can be a little too cheesy at times. I love his cheesiness and everything, but I doubt you’ll look anything but a romantic if he asks you to recite Shakespearian poems to her.”

 

“That’s your idea of romance?” I pretended to gag. I had nothing against Shakespeare, but the idea of reciting poems to Isabella written by a creepy old man who had a knack for killing off all of his characters wasn’t too savory for me.

 

“Be nice,” she warned me.

 

I finally voiced the thought that had been bothering me since the moment I walked out of that bookstore. “It was a bad idea. I should cancel.”

 

“What?” she yelled out loud before toning down her voice to a low hiss. “Are you out of your mind? Why would you do that?”

 

“Because I don’t want to kill her, Alice,” I said. “And I can’t explain it … but her scent, it’s nothing like anything I’ve smelled before. It’s unique, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself.”

 

A smile took over her face as she started nodding. “I know. Her scent is unique for you because she’s your mate. I haven’t met anyone like us before who had a human for his mate, but I can tell you this, Edward, the way Jasper smells to me is very different than how anyone else smells.”

 

I snorted at that. “You sound like you love smelling Jasper’s armpits, Alice.”

 

“You’re gross,” she retaliated, scrunching up her nose in disgust.

 

I kept laughing at her expression as she stood up to leave. “Good luck, brother. I hope to meet your girl someday soon.”

 

My girl.

 

Those two words sent an unknown feeling coursing through me.

_Can I make Isabella my girl? Will she want to be?_

 

****

****

** BPOV **

 

 

 

“You’re kidding me,” Angela said from the other side of the phone.

 

I felt a smile pull at the corners of my lips as I shook my head. Remembering that she can’t see me, I replied in my best Yoda voice, “Kid you, I do not.”

 

She laughed at my answer and said, “This is so not like you, Bee. I mean poor Yorkie did everything short of falling down on his knees and begging you to go out with him, and you stood firm on your answer. But now, you’ve been there for what? Three days? And you’re already going out on a date.”

 

“Yorkie? You had to bring that one up, didn’t you?” I told her. “He has a severe case of halitosis going on, Ang. I’m not vain, or anything, but how could I go out with a guy if I couldn’t stand to be within ten feet of him? Even if I could’ve given him a month’s worth of breath mints supply, I just didn’t want that to be my first date.”

 

“Good point. Don’t forget the way he tried to make us wear painted on dresses for valentines last year,” she agreed.

 

I shuddered at the disgusting memory. “Exactly.” After a moment of silence, I added, “I don’t know what this is, Ang, but I swear it’s different. _He’s_ different.”

 

“Different? How? Is it like he has a dick piercing kind of different? Or he looks like Casanova kind of different?”

 

Shaking my head at her weird metaphors, I thought for a second before saying, “It’s more like I feel safe with him and his presence gives me an intense sense of belonging kind of different. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but that’s how he makes me feel. Everywhere I go, every time I face any problem in this little town, he’s there. I sound like a silly little girl with a crush, don’t I?”

 

There’s silence on the other side for a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was soft and lined with emotions. “No, Bee, you don’t sound like a little girl with a crush. You sound like a girl who’s falling too hard too fast.”

 

“How do you …?”

 

She didn’t let me finish my question as she replied, “Because I know the feeling. It’s scary and fuckawesome at the same time, isn’t it?”

 

“Ben?” I asked quietly.

 

“Yeah, I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but I think maybe he’s it for me?” her words sounded like a question, and I couldn’t help but smile, happy that my best friend has found someone so early in her life.

 

“I had a feeling about you two,” I told her with a teasing note in my voice.

 

She laughed. “Right. Of course you did. Now let’s talk about you.”

 

I shrugged. “What’s there to talk about?”

 

She let out an overdramatic sigh. “What am I going to do with you, Swan? You’re going on your first date, girl. You gotta think of the logistics.”

 

Frowning, I said, “He’s gonna come and pick me up from home after work and we’re gonna go for Italian food in Port Angeles. It’s nothing extravagant.”

 

The way she grumbled in response made me realize that I hadn’t given her the answer she was looking for. “Bell, I’m not thinking of the destination, girl. Tell me, have you decided on a dress? Or shoes? Which shoes are you gonna wear? What about your makeup? Shit! I should be there to help you get ready for your first date.”

 

She sounded like she was on the verge of hyperventilation. So, I took charge and called her name softly, “Angela?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Calm down,” I said. “I’m gonna be fine. I wish you were here with me, but like I told you before coming here, I need to do this on my own. I need to grow up on my own. I may not know a lot about dating, but I know how to be myself, and I think he likes me just the way I am.”

 

“Why do you say that?”

 

Her question made me remember the night back at the hospital, and I laughed. “Because if a guy asks you out after you’ve called him Dobby in your sleep, he might not care if you’re a little crazy, you know?”

 

That made her laugh right along with me. “Dude! You called him Dobby? And he asked you out after _that_? He must like you!”

 

I blushed at her words. Surprisingly, I wanted Edward Cullen— _no, just Edward_ , I corrected myself—to like me.

 

“I sure hope so, Ang,” I told her. “Now don’t worry about the logistics. I can take care of myself.”

 

The smile was evident in her voice as she replied, “I know you can, Bee. Go get him, girl.”

_I intend to_ , I thought as I hung up the phone. And then, I sent a text message to him.

 

****

****

** EPOV **

 

****

****

**_I’m off at five thirty. So you can pick me up at six thirty, if you want, Mr. Dr.-to-be. Here’s my address just to make sure you can find your way to me. ~Isabella_ **

 

I stared at the message on my phone, unable to believe that she really wanted to go out with me. _Did this girl have no self-preservation instincts?_

 

When my phone chimed with an incoming text message from her, I had thought that she was texting me to call it off. However, that would have been rational, and I was getting used to the fact that Isabella was not big on being rational.

 

I looked at the address she had added at the end of the message and felt my eyebrows pull up in shock. The address was of the abandoned Swan house where the Police Chief of the town used to live before he and his family was killed.

_The only exciting shit to have ever happened to this hell hole of a town,_ I thought.

 

As I went to answer her, I knew I should’ve told her that I couldn’t make it and break it off, but instead the message my fingers typed out was this:

****

**_I would’ve found my way to you by any mean, Isabella. You didn’t need to worry about that. I’ll be there. ~Edward_ **

 

As soon as I tapped the send button, it hit me that what I was doing wasn’t the rational thing as well. Maybe Isabella and I did have something in common after all.

 

 

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

I tried to keep my mind from wandering off to thoughts of her all afternoon, but that proved to be damn near impossible. So I went to Carlisle and asked him if I could take the afternoon off, offering to work double shift the next day in return.

 

Surprisingly enough, he agreed, and I was out of the hospital doors before he could change his fucked up mind.

 

With the afternoon free for researching, I went to find some answers … from Emmett.

 

“Em, can I ask you something?” I asked when I got home and found my brother sitting alone in the living room.

 

He looked up at me from the comic book he was reading and gave me a devious grin. “You wanna know what does Mommy and Daddy do at the night?”

 

I pulled a disgusted face at him and shoved on his shoulder. “Shut it, man! I don’t want to revisit the O –ve I snacked up on this morning.”

 

He rolled his eyes at me and said, “Fine, the girls are out at a spa today anyway, and I don’t think Jasper is done with his history research for the day. So I might as well listen to you for a change.”

 

“Gee, thanks,” I replied scathingly. “Way to sound enthusiastic.”

 

Laughing, he motioned at me to continue and I took a deep breath before asking, “Does Rosalie smell different to you?”

 

“What?”

_Ok, so this may have been a bad idea._

 

I was trying to come up with ways to backtrack when he asked, “Which part of Rosie are we talking about exactly?”

 

I’m sure my eyes looked ready to pop out of my head as I stood up from my seat and started to get away from my brother and his disgusting thoughts … far, far away.

 

“Ed, wait up,” he called, standing up as well.

 

Glaring at him, I said, “Forget I asked anything. I don’t wanna know how Rosalie’s butt crack smells to you. Thank you very much.”

 

He held up his hands in defense. “You are the one with all the weird questions, Eddie boy.”

 

When I narrowed my eyes at him for calling me that, he grinned widely before saying, “Fine. If you’re that inclined to know about it, then yes, she smells different to me. I mean each of us have our distinctive scents, but she is something else. When she’s with me, her scent wraps around me … it reels me in.”

 

“You make it sound like she’s your singer or something,” I muttered.

 

He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe the mating bond acts like the singers with a vampire. You know how it was when I met my singer. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t stay away from her.”

_So what does that make Isabella to me? Was she my singer or my mate?_ The question kept playing in my mind as I got away from Emmett before he could start asking questions about my sudden interest in the mating bond.

 

As I was walking through Esme’s well-kept garden to get to the garage, my eyes fell on the flowers my adoptive mother had accumulated over the months we had been living in this town.

 

On a whim, I reached out to pluck a flower and then made my way to the garage.

 

I debated on which car to take before deciding on my Vanquish. It was slick and fast and had a good safety profile. And for the first time in my existence, I needed a safe car because I’d be carrying a package I couldn’t afford to damage … Isabella.

_When did I start worrying about human things? What changed?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So you get an extra long chapter today. :)
> 
> Share your thoughts with me and leave a review.
> 
> The song rec for this chapter: Wake me up by Avicii.
> 
> Thank you for reading.
> 
> See you next week.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


	13. Chapter-12: A Beating Heart

** Chapter-12: A Beating Heart **

****

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

I felt like a creepy fucker. Let me go back a few minutes and explain. When I was about to roll into the street in front of Isabella’s home, I stopped. I still had three minutes before I was supposed to pick her up.

 

So like the creeper I was, I sat in my car and listened for any _voices_ in the area surrounding the house.

 

 

I tried to tell myself that I was doing this just out of instinct, but if I was being honest, it had more to do with wanting the girl inside the house safe from anyone who might harm her than just my predatory instincts.

 

With one minute to spare, I parked in front of her house and waited for her to come out. When she didn’t come, I honked the horn twice to let her know that I was here.

 

I saw the curtains move a little, hinting me to the fact that she had seen me. So I waited.

 

Six thirty came and went and she didn’t come out of the house.

_What the fuck? Did she change her mind?_

 

Wondering what she was doing, I got out of the car.

 

“Just a moment,” I heard her call out from inside the house when I rang the doorbell. I chuckled under my breath as I heard her feet patter across the floor to get to the door. Then the door opened, and for the first time in my existence, I felt like I had swallowed my tongue.

 

Because in front of me stood the most beautiful girl I had even laid eyes on. She wore a dark blue dress that stopped just above her knees, giving me the first look at her perfectly shaped legs. She had left her hair to cascade down her back with the locks lining her face pulled back. She was more than beautiful … she was exquisite.

 

“Hey.” The sound of her voice made me stop the way I must have been ogling her, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask her why she didn’t come out earlier. Instead, I found myself smiling at her. “Hi, nice place,” I remarked like social convention dictated that I should’ve done.

 

She laughed. “It’s been empty for a long time. It’s barely habitable, but it’s home,” she said as she stepped out onto the porch with me.

 

I didn’t tell her how I’d have liked nothing more to live all alone and away from the thoughts of people—humans and vampires alike. Instead, I held my hand out to her and once her hand was in mine, I walked us to the car.

 

“Nice car,” she said when I opened her door for her. Once we were both seated, she surprised me by brushing her hand on my cheek. “Thank you for picking me up.”

 

Her words made me think and I looked at her suspiciously. “Were you having second thoughts?” I had to know.

 

She shook her head. “I think I should have, considering the fact that I barely know you, but no, no second thoughts.”

 

“Then why didn’t you come out at first?”

 

She lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug and replied, “I said you can pick me up. I didn’t say that you could honk your horn at me.”

_Are you kidding me?_

 

Completely disregarding my shocked expression, she reached for the lonesome daisy I had picked up from Esme’s garden for her from the dashboard. “It’s a pretty flower.”

 

“It’s for you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think.

 

A sweet smile came across her face as she held it close to her. “I love it,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve ever been given a flower. Thank you.”

 

I opened my mouth to speak, but she shut me up by throwing another smile in my way. “For this, you’re excused for not coming up to the door in the first place.”

 

I didn’t tell her that it was my first date ever so I might be a little lacking on the dating norms.

 

Wondering what it was about her that was reeling me in like this, I started the car.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

The whole way to Port Angeles, I kept stealing glances at her, hoping, wishing that our close proximity would let me in on her thoughts.

 

But nope, nothing.

 

It didn’t help that the intensity of her smell increased ten-fold inside the closed car. The scent alone had the power to drive me insane. She smelled so fucking good … in a very non-food way. _So maybe she’s not my singer_ , I contemplated. But that led to a much worrying question: _was this girl really my mate?_

 

 

** BPOV **

 

 

 

The car stopped, pulling me out of the thoughts that had been running through my mind … thoughts concerning a certain handsome man who happened to be sitting right next to me.

 

He didn’t give me time to get my door opened before he was there next to me, opening it for me. I hid the smile threatening to escape me.

 

_He was a gentleman underneath it all._

 

I had no idea why it mattered to me that he should have come at my door to pick me up, but it did. Maybe because it was my first date? Or maybe because it was with him? Who knew?

 

When I saw the name of the restaurant he took me to, I was shocked to say the least. _Bella Italia? Really?_

 

“How did you find this?” I asked him, wondering how he could have known what my friends called me.

 

He frowned. “Google map, actually. I’ve never been to this place, but if you don’t like it then we can …”

 

“Don’t!” I said to stop him. “I was just surprised to see the name, that’s all.”

 

He raised his eyebrows in question, and I blushed. “My friends call me Bella. So …”

 

A slow and slightly lop-sided smile found its way to his face as he reached up to take my chin in between his fingers and tilt my head to the side. “Bella,” he whispered. “It suits you. Does it mean that I get to call you Bella from now on?”

 

His touch made me feel bolder … braver than I thought I would, and I found myself whispering back to him, “I was hoping you would be something other than my friend, Edward.”

 

There’s shock on his face for a brief moment as my response registered on his mind and then, he smiled. “Let’s go inside.”

 

He reached for my hand and I thread our fingers together, not minding how cold his hand felt in mine. I wanted to warm him up just like I did the night we met.

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

 

 

 

I looked at Edward like he had lost his mind. “You’re really not gonna eat?” I asked.

 

He shook his head. “No, I don’t like Italian.”

 

I’m at a loss over his response. “Then we could’ve gone for something else.” _If he doesn’t like Italian cuisine, why take me here?_

 

“No,” he said quickly. “This place sounded good.” My are-you-insane-look seemed to make him think like he needed to explain himself to me so he added, “I’m not hungry anyway.”

 

I considered getting him to switch restaurants, but before I could do so, our annoyingly chipper waitress leaned toward him—most likely trying to give him an eyeful of her boobs. “Would you like _anything else_ , sir?”

 

That’s the moment I felt true jealousy for the first time. I wanted to rip the woman’s hairs off for being inappropriate. Thankfully though, Edward didn’t even bother to look down the front of her shirt. Instead, he pulled the menu from under my hands and held it in front of his face, effectively shutting out the slutty waitress from his line of vision.

 

“Nope,” he replied after a moment. “Nothing here tempts me.” He removed the menu card and let his hand cover mine over the table. “I have everything I need. Thank you.”

 

Can you feel like molten cheese? That’s how I felt in that moment.

 

“You want anything else, baby?” The sound of his voice and the sudden term of endearment made me come back to the now and present from my state of Bella-goo.

 

I wanted to say that I need the wait-stuff to keep their beanbags to themselves and not shove them in his face, but that was jealous Bella talking, and I didn’t think he’d like her very much.

 

So shaking my head, I gave his hand a squeeze and repeated his sentiment. “I have everything right here.”

 

I thought I saw the woman pretend to gag, but I really couldn’t be sure because it was impossible to look away from those green eyes boring into mine.

 

She turned around to walk away and I saw Edward’s eyes glance at her back, his features morphing into one of anger for a heartbeat.

 

“Hey,” I said. “What is it?”

 

“I don’t like that woman,” he replied. “She called you names and said you’re egotistical.”

 

“How do you know that?”

 

He’s silent for a moment before he said, “I heard her mutter under her breath.” There’s a frown on his face as he answered me, and I didn’t like it.

 

So I took his hand and held it between my own. “It’s our night. Let’s not worry about what she said, please?”

 

My request made him sigh, and then he nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

 

The rest of the dinner was filled with small talks as he asked me about my life before Forks. When I told him that I grew up in a group home, he looked angry again. “Why would people send you there?”

 

“My parents were dead,” I said quietly.

 

“But you must’ve had someone to take the trouble to make sure you got to the home,” he countered. “They could’ve been your family, Bella. You didn’t have to grow up alone.”

 

I tried to smile, to wipe off the worry from his face. “I didn’t grow up alone. I had twenty three other people to grow up with. They have been my family for as long as I can remember.”

 

“Then why did you leave them?”

 

His question sounded like an easy one, but was so damn hard to answer. I thought for a moment before deciding to be honest with him. “I wanted to know my parents.” He opened his mouth, but I carried on, wanting to confide in him. “They’re dead, I know. But the house they lived in is still there. I thought I’d find out what kind of person they were if I came here.”

 

His voice was soft when he asked, “What did you find out?”

 

“Not much,” I replied sadly. “He was a cop, she was a florist and they were both killed in a car crash. That’s all I know.”

 

He looked thoughtful as he played with my fingers, entwining them with his before looking at me. “I’m sorry.”

 

“For what?”

 

He sighed. “It feels unfair that you didn’t get to know who your parents are.”

 

I started to say that it was okay, but he shook his head. “It’s not ok. But I promise to help you find out as much as we can about them.”

 

I gasped in shock. “How did you know what I was about to say?”

 

He smiled, the lines on his forehead smoothing out. “I don’t need to be a mind-reader to know what you’re thinking, Bella. Your face is becoming my favorite book to read.”

 

****

****

** EPOV **

 

 

 

As soon as we walked out of the restaurant, the ever present clouds in the Washington area decided to greet us.

 

“Shit!” I cursed under my breath as the first drop of rain hit my skin. I needed to get her back home and out of this wretched rain. “Let’s get you home,” I said, putting my hand on the small of her back to lead her to my car.

 

However, Bella being Bella, moved out of my reach. “Rain’s coming,” she said, looking up at the sky.

 

“Yes …”

 

“I love rain,” she said. “Can we stay here for a few minutes?”

 

The pleading tone in her voice was already breaking my resolve when I tried to be reasonable … for her. “You’ll catch a cold.”

 

“It’s a good thing that I know a future doctor who can fix me up then,” her comeback was quick and it made me laugh.

_My girl is all about spontaneity._

 

In that moment, the skies opened up and it started to rain. Unlike the humans around us who were running for covers against the rainfall, Bella stood there with her arms outstretched—as if she’s greeting the rain.

 

And I found myself getting lost in awe of this perfect human all over again.

 

“Dance with me?” she asked me, holding a hand out to me.

 

I chuckled at how crazy this was and said, “There’s no music playing.”

 

She didn’t seem at all fazed by my answer as she tugged on my arm. “Listen to our heartbeats. That’s a pretty perfect song right there.”

 

I let her pull me to herself. I allowed my arms to wrap around her waist. I reveled in the warmth of her skin against mine as she looped her arms around my neck and then I did just what she asked me to do.

 

I listened to her heartbeat. And in that moment, I decided that I would do anything I had to in order to keep that heart beating because it was the most significant music in my ears.

 

 

 

**~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~**

The woman moved farther into the shadows, keeping the dancing couple in her sight as she did so.

 

Her employer had been worried about the boy the girl came to the restaurant with. They had been tipped off about their arrival in there. That’s why they had asked her to try to seduce him to break them up.

 

Unfortunately for her, the boy didn’t seem to have eyes for anyone but that girl.

 

A sneer came on the woman’s face as she remembered the anger in the girl’s eyes as she watched her stick her tits into the boy’s face.

 

 _It’s gonna be fun breaking that egotistical bitch’s heart_ , the woman thought as she drew her coat tighter around her.

 

What she didn’t know that she wouldn’t live the night to report back to her employers because unbeknownst to her, Edward Cullen was listening in on her thoughts, and he was going to do whatever it takes to make sure his girl was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So thoughts?
> 
> Share them with me and leave a review.
> 
> I’m sorry but there’s not gonna be a DreamWeaver update tonight, but I promise to get you TWO updates tomorrow.
> 
> Song rec for this chapter: Heartbeat Song by Kelly Clarkson.
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> See you next week.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Ann


End file.
